My Social Experiment

October 21/14

Zero Orchestra by Matthew Good

So last Saturday was my bachelor weekend and how did I spend it?  Watched my son's first ever indoor winter soccer game, they lost 4-1 but he held his own against some of the older players with more experience, and than had lunch with my daughter and her boyfriend at Central Bierhaus.

I got there before them and while I was looking over the menu I glanced around the room and it dawned on me that the place was pretty busy with lots of conversations between the guests, wait staff, and each other. But what really caught my eye was the number of people who were texting someone while they were sitting with someone else. Least I hope they were texting someone else as how sad would it be if they were texting the person right there in front of them.....

I put the menu down and actually took a count and of the 93 people in my view, both guests and staff, over half were on a smart phone or tablet, by my count 45 at one point.

Are we so desensitized to direct communications that we no longer talk face to face or even on the phone? The last one baffles me the most as I know both of my kids text far more than they talk on the phone whereas when I was my son's age I was on the phone so much my parents had to get me my own line else they'd never have gotten a call lol

But when I think about it now most times I'm talking with someone who isn't in my presence it is usually via text and sometimes that is a bad thing...we readily exchange all kinds of messages before even getting the chance to meet face to face that it sort of takes the surprise out of the actual meeting.

I know this has happened to me on at least one occasion and it made me feel bad, like there was nothing more to discover about the other person, but I didn't really know what to do about it. Since that incident I've tried to limit how much texting I'll do with someone before we meet as I love nothing more than to watch her face as she shares her story with me, there is so much to learn about  a person just by seeing what animates them as they talk with you.

So here is my social experiment for the readers....next time you are out at a public place look around and observe just how many people are on some form of electronic device versus actually communicating with the people they are with.......I'm willing to bet that your observation just might shock you..........

It is a rainy and chilly Tuesday out there so stay warm, drive safe, and remember to tell those close to you that you love them......