No Texting at the Dinner Table

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the way technology has replaced conversation?  Some of the most important people in my life…my mother and my best friend…don’t use Facebook or text and I find myself sharing less and less with them and more with people I hardly even know.

Today I texted one son, Facebook chatted with another and video chatted with my husband all while they were just in another room of the house. I realized that I haven’t spoken to my mother in a week, yet I know what people I haven’t seen since 3rd grade had for dinner. I emailed my dad about his grandson’s ballgame rather than picking up the phone only to hope he read it before game time. Dinner at our house is regularly interrupted by a variety of beeps and ringtones. As soon as the last morsel has been swallowed everyone is off to their room to see what they missed on Facebook during the dinner hour.

With each of us having our own laptops and cell phones, it seems that we all prefer to retreat to our private space and interact through technology rather than talk face to face. My son’s bedroom is perhaps 30 feet away from where I stand yet I will text him to come down for dinner rather than yell up the stairs. I have resorted to waking my kids in the morning with a phone call or text. I had a lengthy and pleasant Facebook chat with one son the other night while he was just in his room across the hall. Why didn’t either of us get up and talk face-to-face? Are we really that lazy? I don’t think we all enjoy typing that much. “Why don’t you just call them?” my dad asked me one day, as I was texting away.  I couldn't explain it, but we all do it.

I remember spending hours and hours attached to the phone on the wall when I was growing up so I could talk to my friends. As a young mother the cordless phone was my lifeline, allowing me to get things done and talk all day at the same time. Now, I can’t remember the last time I had a phone conversation lasting more than 30 seconds. Kids today prefer to text than talk and are content to socialize through Facebook and iChat rather than actually hang out together or even talk on the phone. My son can play Xbox with his friends for hours on end but never actually spend a minute with them. I am reminded of the Jetson’s when I see them iChatting and face-talking. I never thought I would see that kind of technology in my lifetime.

Don’t get me wrong; I have made some great connections with relatives and old friends that I would not otherwise be in contact with without Facebook and the Internet.  It is the relationships with the people in my life and in my own house that have changed. I am tempted to shut off my phone, close my Facebook account and stop checking my email. Life would be so much simpler. Being constantly wired to everyone I have ever known is exhausting. But I won’t…I might miss a notification from someone I barely remember that is having a bad day in Ohio.