Last night, we went out for dinner. We were seated in the alfresco area and right across us from inside the restaurant was a family of 4. I noticed because the kid waved at us - actually at our dogs 🐶🐶 - through the window as we sat down. We smiled back.
While waiting for our food to arrive, I caught a glimpse of the family again. The kid was lazily twirling her pasta while the mom, dad, and the older sister were engrossed with whatever was in their mobile screens.
Every now and then I would catch the kid looking over at our dogs. I’d return a small smile, and sometimes a small wave. She’d do the same. And I saw her tug at her dad. She started mouthing words while a finger was pointed at our direction. The dad didn’t even look at the little girl. She tried to catch her mom’s attention too. The mom did peel away from her mobile and turned to look at our direction and just went back to her mobile screen. She did not even acknowledge her child. So the little girl went back to twirling her pasta, head bowed down. 😔
I was left wondering what was so important that the parents could not peel away from their mobile devices.
In every sit down dinner with your loved ones, you have a choice. You can either engage in a conversation with the people you care about - get to know how their day went, listen to their stories and just bond with them. Or you can be intimate with your smartphone, have conversations in your inbox and polish your image in social media.
Which would you rather be doing?
