I typically use my blog to keep up with family and friends, or to otherwise post something positive. This time, however, I am turning to my blog as a way of venting about a pet peeve of mine. So, if you’re not interested in hearing my opinion about family communication, then you should visit another site for now.
This evening, my family visited one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. As we’re being seated, Misty turns to me and says, “And you don’t even let me use my cell phone at the dinner table,” while pointing to a table a few feet away. Sitting at that table was another family. Their young daughter had a portable DVD player and was watching a movie at the table while everyone else simply ignored her. Now I don’t have a problem placing a DVD player into the hands of a young one on a long road trip, but come on… during dinner with the family, at the table, in a restaurant?!? Granted, she was young, but she could have contributed something – if not a good giggle – to the family conversation, right? So much for keeping the paths of communication open…
Misty jokingly said that we would visit the same restaurant in 30 years to find it perfectly quiet while morbidly obese patrons who could no longer remember how to speak sat alone stuffing their faces while chatting, texting, and watching videos on their mobile devices. That might be a stretch. Then again, maybe she isn’t too far off, right?
We’re guilty too. We watch television nightly, and we each text, Twitter, blog, and Facebook with the best of them. I can say this though – we still talk. We routinely sit down for heart-to-hearts with each other. We KNOW each other, and that, I fear, is something that a lot of folks cannot honestly claim.
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