I met him, a lovely man, on this last dating site. He’s thoughtful, lets me set the pace in our relationship and we can talk to each with ease. Best of all, he leaves his cellphone at home when he comes to visit.
How delightful not to have a piece of technological plastic covering the face of the person with whom I’m speaking! How enjoyable to have a meal with a man and not have our dining interrupted by the latest text or call from friends or relatives.
Over the past few years I’ve grown to hate the invention of this relationship crippling, dinner interrupting, constantly in my face piece of crap! I went on one date only to have the man constantly checking for messages, texting back to the person who just texted him. He chuckled at one such message. I asked what he was laughing at.
“Oh, my daughter just bathed the grandbaby and just had to show me how cute he looked in the new blankie I gave him.”
Okay, I get the sweet grandbaby and happy grandpa connection; but couldn’t this have waited until after our date? Still chuckling, he texted a return message.
“Told her that he was just about the cutest baby in the world. Can’t wait until he says his first words.”
To which his daughter replied and then he replied and then she replied and I left the restaurant. They truly did not need a third person in their lives at the moment. He called the next day to ask where I went. He did not know I was gone until the check arrived!
Another took me to a movie I had been waiting to see. His cellphone stayed lit throughout most of the movie even after I suggested it might be disturbing other viewers. He looked around and I followed his gaze. No problem there. EVERYONE had their idiot phones lit up. So why did they pay to see a movie they had no intention of watching?
Love it when relatives and friends walk in the door with the dazed concentration that only constant cellphone users have. I say hello and approach for a hug only to have them brush past as they furiously tap a text and wait for the reply. I have begun banning them altogether or collecting them at the front door. I invite people to my home to be with me, not to have them interested in everyone else outside my doors. Heaven help anyone who comes to my dining table with a phone in hand. It will be drowned in a pitcher of tea!
When did we decide that knowing Mary Lou changed her hair ribbon from pink to purple or that John, like WOW, now has thirteen studs in his left ear which totally unbalances the right ear takes precedence over simple good manners and talking face to face?
I remember first misgivings when my mother-in-law got one of the ‘bricks’ aka first mobile phones. She could be at home 8 hours, but the second she sat down in her car she absolutely had to make a phone call. She loved to impress and she did. I was impressed that anyone would be so stupid as to make a phone call in a car instead of in the safety of a non-moving house. That holds true even more today as I read of bus drivers, train engineers, airline pilots, and automobile drivers who put everyone at risk because they simply cannot use the good sense God gave a goat and wait until they are stopped to make a call or send a text.
Back to my new fella. I think he’s a keeper – maybe – since he would rather spend time with me and I would rather spend time with him than with anyone on a phone of any kind. Neither of us feels as though we want to be reachable 24/7 when it’s so much nicer being alone together.