Excuse me, I gotta answer this

On my way to work this morning I got to listen to my favourite 5 minutes of radio in the morning, Cliff LeQuesne  (sorry Ed) from 100.3 The Q gives us a brief view on his take of the world right now. This morning he talked about two restaurants down state side where cell phone use is being discouraged at one by giving a 5% discount on your bill if you hand over  your cell before you dine and the other expressly forbids the use of cell phones. The whole point of putting away your phone is to connect with that person you are dining with. 

How often have you been dining with someone, in the middle of a conversation and their cell phone goes off.

"Excuse me, I gotta answer this"

How does that make you feel when the person you are with does that to you? What does that say about your value to them knowing that they are more interested in something else?

It is bad enough now, when your cell phone is a physical device that can be put down, handed over or turned off. What is it going to be like in 20 years when the device is a physical part of you. You are talking with the person you are sharing dinner with and all of a sudden, their face goes blank and they start talking to someone else. Relationships are already a lot of work to hold onto, this scenario is only going to add to that work load.

Reach out and touch someone and then be with that person. Leave the cell at home, turn it off or let the voice mail get the call. There are few things that qualify as "I gotta answer this". When you are taking that person out to dinner, be with that person, not the electronic tether in your pocket. Talk with that person, who knows, you might just learn something new about them.