I'm talking to you, smart phone user. Yes, you with the latest iPhone or Android. When was the last time you put that thing down?

The funny thing about smartphones is that they're supposed to connect us to the world and each other. We can always be up to date on our emails! We can update the world with what we're doing and where we are via Twitter or Facebook! How great that we can always be in contact with each other!

The thing I've noticed, however, is that smart phone users are ALWAYS on their phones. Even while we're walking to class or hanging out, you're reading tweets, texts, emails, articles, magazines, books, Yelp reviews, gossip sites, and Facebook status updates. Going grocery shopping together means you're hunched over looking at their grocery lists, calorie checkers, recipes, and meal planners. Waiting to get lunch at our favorite campus cafe means you're tapping away at Angry Birds, Words With Friends, or that annoying baseball game with the annoying music that plays every time you're up to bat. Yeah, I don't have an iPhone, so I don't know what it's called. Even at bars, clubs and parties, you'll be on Foursquare, making sure everyone knows you're getting wasted tonight.

The point is that the more capabilities your phone has, the less I seem to talk to you.  I've sat through many dinners with my boyfriend in which he obsessively checked to see if his favorite baseball team was winning every five seconds as I ate silently, glaring at him until he noticed... over and over. Seriously, if you wanted to watch the game that badly, why would you ask me to get dinner? And friends, you seriously need to stop texting, emailing, tweeting, reading, Yelping, and checking your Facebook while we're hanging out; even if all we're doing is riding in the same car or waiting in line at a cupcake shop, it's these down times that can make for great conversation. Or singalongs to the radio.

Not all my friends are this way, but spending time with certain people increasingly rings of silence rather than laughter.  Honestly, I'm not asking you to never check your phone while you're with me. I understand you need to keep on top of things. But for goodness sake, put down your phone once in a while and ask how I'm doing! Tell me about your life so I don't have to go read about it on Twitter later.

By: CG Staff | Image: Source