I rarely moan.
I rarely get irritable.
This evening I got irritable.
And wanted to moan.
I arrive at my yoga class nice and early every Monday evening.
I await the finish of the body pump class held in studio 2, where the yoga class is held straight after it.
While I’m waiting I watch the karate class held in the main hall where the Sensei runs the class with a caring but authoritarian style.
He chides them when they don’t listen to him and hugs them when they need some support.
They love him.
You can see it in their eyes as they flit around the karate mat.
At the side, on chairs, there are a collection of parents seated facing the kids.
One parent has a laptop computer open and is staring at the screen.
The other parents are all on their smartphones, texting, checking the news, looking at the weather forecasts, you name it.
Nobody is looking at their kids.
What a wasted opportunity.
How sad for the kids who are trying to impress both the sensei and their parents.
Parents lost in their internet world, but missing out on the real world right in front of them.
When I was young my parents used to watch me, cheer me, support me, smile at me when they came to watch.
Glorious eye contact and supporting body language.
Always.
So my request is – just break away from the technology and look up.
You miss so much when you don’t appear interested.
I wonder if the parents really know what they are missing?
I think the children do.
It’s time to look up …
As I see it .... 
I was thinking about this the Saturday night when I was hanging out with my nephew. I asked him if I could take a photo of him with his ice cream and he said sure. When I took out my phone he said “Mom’s always on her phone these days. She doesn’t look away from it.”
I mean, I get it. She’s a business owner so it’s probably hard. But at the same time, I felt bad for the kid. He’s old enough to notice she’s missing these aspects of his life that he wants to share with her. It’s kind of a bummer.
For me, when I’m with someone, I keep my phone away (for the most part, with the exception of picture taking) because I want that person to know they’re far more important than anything my phone has on it.
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Thank you – what an amazing comment back. Great advice about the phone being kept away when you are with somebody. I don’t always do this but I will from now on 😎
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This is true and very sad. But there’s another side to it, as youngsters are often the biggest culprits, spending loads of time glued to their phones which would be better spent appreciating people and stuff around them. We were in Kings College Chapel (Cambridge) a couple of months ago, a magnificent, elegant building. It was rammed with tourists, mostly young people in big groups, and the majority of them didn’t look up at all at the fantastic architecture and fittings but instead wandered around with their eyes down, fixed on their screens. They might just as well have been back at home or their hotel. What a waste!
Technology, in the hands of young and old alike, can be a curse as well as a blessing when it is used inappropriately. But I do think adults have a particular role in demonstrating responsible (restrained) use of mobile phones.
Oh dear, I probably sound like a miserable old fogey. Guilty as charged! Sorry.
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Great response – much appreciated! Not guilty to charges … your “leading by example” advice is spot on and I’ll continue to practice what I preach! 😎
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You and me both, then! But sometimes I feel like poor old King Canute, caught in a desperate and ultimately doomed attempt to hold back the tide. Whatever, we can only do what we can do 👍 .
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We will just recruit others to help us – we are not doomed until we are doomed 😎
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Couldn’t agree with you more. 😊
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Thank you Irene – much appreciated. 😎
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I used to teach pre-school and it would irritate me when a parent would pick up their kid while on the phone.
The children were always excited to see their parents, to give them hugs and kisses after a long day, the maximum hours each child was there for was 8. Some children were there from 7am to 6pm and the parent would say hi and go back to whatever the hell they were doing on their phone. Ugh.
But thankfully some of them were legit to see their kid and were interested to hear about their day. That kept me going. ❤️ Sorry, long comment and thank you for writing this.
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Thank you Rita for your comment and feedback. It has certainly made me think about my phone use in the company of others!
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