Nice and Easy Now...Step Away From the Phone.

We've all done it.  Or at the very least, we've seen it being done.

You're sitting at dinner with your family, friends, significant other (bad dates do not count here), when you get a text, a phone call, an email.  You immediately reach for your phone, which is sitting just to the right of your water glass.  Whether it's on silent or vibrate does not stop us from checking and rechecking our phone.  Is there always something better going on?

Or how about this one: over the holidays you're enjoying time with family and friends.  You're sitting in the living room with your brother-in-law, your sister from out-of-town, maybe a few cousins you see just once a year.  All of you sitting with your phone in your hands, heads down, fingers tapping away at a tiny keyboard.  "Enjoying time with out of town family and friends" you post.  Really?  Enjoying time?

Why is it that we feel we have to post constant updates about our lives, to the detriment of... our lives?  Maybe you've read recently about the young blogger's idea for the restaurant phone game.  A quick run-down in case you've been out of touch:
When you sit down at a restaurant, everyone at the table sets their phone face-down in a stack.  Regardless of whether the phone rings or vibrates, beeps or dings, no on is allowed to so much as look at their phone.
If at any point during dinner you do look at your phone?  Dinner's on you.

I like it, but, I can hear the arguments already. "My kids might call,"  "It could be work," or "I'm waiting for an important (whatever)."

What in the world did we do before cell phones?  How did we survive before smart phones let us check our email, facebook status and twitter feeds every 14 seconds around the clock?

But the truth is, I'm a bit addicted, too.  It's the nature of our society in 2012 to want - require - 24/7 access.   It's what we've become accustomed to - the norm.

And really, if we go back to the 70s (my childhood, the bee gees, bell bottoms, the good 'ol days), didn't we, in essence, do the same things, just with different distractions?  It's not like we all used to be the Cleavers and suddenly the iPhone has turned us all into cold, heartless, family-haters.  It used to be that we gathered with our friends and relatives over the holidays, sat together in a cozy family room, with a blazing fire in the fireplace and... watched TV.  So really, let's keep it in perspective folks.  Think of all the good the smart phone has done.  Toppled governments, for God's sake!  Saved Lives!  Started conversations, raised money, connected lost relatives, high school friends...

But I digress.  Back to that mobile phone restaurant game.  Is it so hard to unplug for an hour?  90 minutes tops?  Maybe.  But I am going to give it a shot next time I'm out to dinner and let you know how I do.  Give it a try, and let me know if you were successful...

The Versatile Blogger

A few days ago, my good friend (and very talented writer), Linda (Please check out her blog, here) awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award. So it goes, that I am tasked with revealing seven things about myself, link back to her and pass on to seven others.

Doesn't sound too difficult, right? But every time I sat down to write this blog, I got stuck. Seven things. True things (that makes it harder). You'd think I could handle this. The problem is that nothing about me is that interesting. Really. And those of you who know me already know these things. Those of you who don't know me...well, do you really care about these things? Nevertheless, an Award is an Award...and I accepted! So, here goes...

#1 I have owned 17 different cars in the past 22 years

#2 My first semester of college at UMSL, I earned a .25 GPA (yes, the decimal is in the right place). I finally went back and earned my BA when I was 32 (and pregnant with my third child).

I graduated with Honors and a 3.6.

#3 I have an affinity for antique typewriters, and started collecting when I found my first

last year.

#4 I love theater, and saw my first

Broadway show (Jersey Boys) last year.

#5 At the top of my Bucket List, is a trip to

Paris (I daydreamed about it here).

#6 When I transferred to Webster U from the community college, I had thought I wanted to be

a teacher. A meeting with the Dean of the Education Dept. proved to me that this was not,

in fact, my calling. 30 years old and lost, I met with an Advisor who asked me, "What

is it you like to do?" My Answer: "Well, I

love to write, but you can't major in Writing."

She answered simply, "Yes you can!" I

signed up on the spot and walked out of the

building smiling and crying. One of the

best days of my life.

#7 I do not like coming up with seven facts about myself. This was hard!