Thoughts about our smartphones and their impact in our social interactions

When we are hanging out with other people, I am pretty sure it is not uncommon for us to see someone suddenly using his smartphone and distracting himself, maybe without realizing it, from what is being discussed in the group, distancing himself from those who are physically close.

I am talking specifically about those moments, where we are trying to engage with another individual or a group of people, and a particular person or even most of that group of people, are spending their time texting with other remote individuals instead of paying proper attention to those who are there with them in the actual social meeting.

This, in my opinion, is a nasty behavior that could even be considered something like a social epidemics, this is something that should already be approached and explained even starting in childhood at school level, and with affected adults at the professional level, to educate everyone about the best ways to properly interact with other people, and how not to disturb or decrease the quality of those interactions.

There is something curious about this issue because most people are aware of this problem, and when it is mentioned, everyone seems to always agree with the fact this is indeed, a real issue, however people still continue to do it as if this were something similar to a vice.

On the other hand, it is good to clarify that texting and social platforms also have good and positive aspects, because there are endless positive uses for those applications, such as keeping in contact with our loved ones living abroad, and with old friends, and even providing a way to share with the world important information related to current disasters of all types, but what I am saying is that the excessive use of these platforms, and particularly its excessive use in real social gatherings, is something that we should learn how to control and ultimately, avoid. Unfortunately, those who offend others with this behavior or cause a negative reaction, in many cases are not even aware of the fact they constantly get sort of absorbed into their digital world from time to time, neglecting any attention to people close to them.

On a personal level, I have to say that I love technology, and I think it is one of the most important things for our race to always develop new innovations through science and tech, but like everything in life, we can not go to the extreme and in this case, we cannot forget that those around us may deserve a little more of our attention and affection.

If someone is doing this type of mistake and wants to stop, as it is always the case with problems of this type, the first step is to recognize we have the bad tendency to use our smartphone in situations where this is not the most convenient thing to do, and then take conscious action to stop ourselves from taking out the smartphone in the first place.