Recently, my wife and I visited an IHOP. It and Denny's are two of our favorite places to eat when we go out for breakfast. Waiting in line to be seated is something they usually don't ask of us, but due to the busyness that morning, we ended up hanging out in the lobby for about fifteen minutes.
Once we were shown to our table, we sat down, looked at the menus and ordered our food and drinks. As we talked back and forth, I noticed a family of seven being seated a couple of tables from us: a man and woman in their thirties and five kids ranging from (what looked like) four to about seventeen years of age. They were all very well dressed and mannerly; your typical American family.
I continued talking to my wife about plans I had for the day and ideas I wanted to run by her. She mentioned how delicious the coffee tasted, pouring more into her cup from the carafe on the table.
Although the conversation between us was flowing steadily, I found it strangely odd how noiseless the rest of the restaurant had become. For there to be no open seating available, it was inordinately quiet; to the point I had to look around the diner to make sure everyone else wasn't being held hostage.
To my surprise, they were!
But they weren't being held captive by a group of assailants with guns or a lone wolf with a death wish. And strangely enough, they weren't being held against their will, but by their own choice. As my eyes went from booth to booth and table to table, every single person around us was imprisoned by their phone's brightly lit screen.
A young teenage couple over to our left were both swiping left and right on their iPhones. As the family of seven were waiting on their order to arrive, each had a tablet or phone in front of them. And sadly enough to our right, an elderly couple in their sixties or seventies were scrolling through Facebook with theirs. Neither were saying a word; neither one acknowledging the other in any way.
I looked at my wife and smiled. For even though I was disheartened by our surroundings, I felt a peace knowing we were not in the same boat. We were not slaves to our screens. It was immensely eye-opening for the both of us. I thought to myself, "I wish each person here could just take a step back and see what we are seeing right now".
Technology evolves constantly with no end in sight. It bares a huge amount of pros, but also many cons. The choice to use it or allow it to use you lies in your hands alone. And in all honesty, as years pass, the more we rely on technology, the more people will inadvertantly be blinded by it's addictiveness. In my opinion, it's a drug like no other residing in a category all by itself. It may be the strongest and most viral of them all. Affecting no specific age group, it does not discriminate. It impacts children, teens, adults, the elderly... all of the above.
This week remind yourself:
In a world full of robots, be human.
Don't let anything or anyone enslave you. It's your mind.
They're your thoughts.
They're your actions.
You are in control of your life.
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