Jon Acuff has a fantastic post up on The Gift Everyone Really Wants for Christmas. It’s a must-read. Here’s a snippet:
Your husband? He wants your presence.
Your wife? She wants your presence.
Your kids? They want your presence.
Your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your father, your mother, your friend, your neighbor? They all want your presence.
Every day this gift becomes rarer and rarer. Can you remember the last time you had a full conversation with someone’s face, not just their forehead as they stared at their phone? Can you remember the last time someone was “all there” not just partially there because interacting with you wasn’t enough to hold their full attention? I have to leave my phone in the car when we go to dinner parties or I will be physically present but absent in every other way possible as I engage with the phone instead of anyone else.
Don’t miss Christmas because you’re working or you’re lost in your phone.
This year, give someone that rarest gift of all, your presence. No one else can give them that.
It costs nothing, but it’s worth everything.
This is one of my husbands biggest pet peeves. When someone is visiting with you but they keep texting other people. We have a straight talk home phone that is our main phone. My husband has a straight talk cell phone that he can use month to month. Right now it is not activated and has not been for awhile. Once it gets closer to my due date we will activate it again so I can get ahold of him. We only have one car so we go every where together and we really dont miss having a cell phone!
Got rid of the cell phone and that got rid of the problem.
Agreed… But it hard when only one of the two of you don’t see a real problem and views this as a sign of the times 🙁
I know exactly what you mean. Keep praying. That’s what I’ve been doing.
We need to get better at “no phones at the table” … we started well and have now backslided.
And I think we’ll do a “no devices” time period every evening so we can all be “present” and share our time together.
It will be hard (these devices really are addictive!) but I have no doubt it will be for the greater good!
Amen!
Excellent post. My husband and I have a no phones at the dinner table agreement….whether at home or out. We were sitting at a restaurant one day waiting for our order when I realized we were both looking at our phones instead of each other. A quick glance around the restaurant and it was the same scene at most of the other tables. We made a decision to change that day.
It’s so wonderful that you noticed and cared enough to make a change! That’s such a great gift you can give to each other.
I have found myself guilty of this. Sometimes I make the right decision to put down my phone…sometimes I don’t. So applaud you for making that agreement. 🙂