We live in an age of convenience, and isn't it nice? If we need directions, they are at our fingertips. If we need to reach someone, we all walk around with a cell phone glued to us. If we need a phone number the internet is a few clicks away. And yet, that convenience has led to inconvenience and a feeling of being connected when real connections are ignored.
Once a month, I gather with some of my closest girl friends for a night of food and talking. Not once has anyone had their phone on the dinner table, and only rarely does someone answer their phone. On those rare occasions, it is a mom or someone who has already expressed that there is something urgent going on that might need to be tended to. Shocking isn't it?
It is so sad that this mutual respect I speak of is rare in a young group of twenty somethings. Would you like to know the most earth shattering part? We have no cell phone rule. None. Nada. Zip. We just get it. We all understand that if we are going to spend time with friends we value, that time is special. Phone calls can wait. Texts can wait. Facebook comments can wait.
They
Can
All
Wait.
We need, desperately, as a society, as young people, as professionals, and as friends to start showing mutual respect to the person we are with at the moment. It is only fair, and it will only lead to better, deeper, stronger and more lasting friendships that we can count on. If we don't change our habits soon, our social media and text driven lives may soon destroy what real relationships we do have. I don't know about you, but when I need to cry, I'd rather have a hug that a text: <3, and when I laugh at something funny with friends, a real laugh together is so much more valuable than a delayed "lol."
