Silence. Looking at your phones. Communication stops, and eye contact is obsolete—more silence. I’m walking away. I’m tired of looking at the tops of your heads. I’m speaking! Do you not hear me talking? Do you not hear my voice?
I’m trying and attempting to connect, but there is no connection. The connection is lost, but I’m still trying, still speaking. But still nothing. They are still scrolling, looking down. I’m walking away. Do they even notice that I left the room? Nope, still scrolling.
There is silence. They are bored, lost, and still silently scrolling, never looking up. Maybe if they look up, they will see that I am slowly walking away, waiting for someone to hear my words and respond.
I want the silence to be broken. I want words to soar and conversations to resume. I want laughter to enter the soul. But for now, what remains is silence and scrolling.
Can anyone else relate? Is it me being sensitive, or does anyone else feel that sometimes the cell phone takes over and we lose all connection with our family members? I don’t know about you, but I am going to try to change this pattern.
It doesn’t happen daily, but when it does creep in and rear its ugly head and no one hears me or I have to repeat what I’m saying, it makes me go absolutely bonkers! It takes me back to the lyrics of a Yaz song, “Can you hear me? I’ve been calling all day. Can you hear me?” But in the ’80s, the ultimate way to disconnect was by not answering the landline. Well, now the “landline” is attached to hands, hips, or even inside bras, to stay connected to the outside world.
But what about staying connected to the world within our homes? The connection that cannot afford to be severed or disconnected?
So, if you feel as lost as I sometimes do when the phone takes precedence, maybe it’s time to make a promise to ourselves this summer. The promise to put our phones down, reconnect with a family member or friend, and recognize that we need to find fulfillment in the present moment, with our heads lifted towards the sky, our eyes open, and our hearts open to once again see the beauty the world has to offer.
That we allow ourselves the grace to ground ourselves, nourish our souls, rekindle our hearts, listen to words, digest the voice, and find comfort in the simplicity of the world around us, because let’s be real, it’s not only the tweens and teens.
We moms can too often indulge in the guilty pleasure of finding a cozy spot and scrolling social media for way too many hours.
It is time to stop living in a world in a constant state of motion. We need to give ourselves permission to regroup and find joy in the present. Let us give this gift to one another, not just to ourselves, because I know from my friends that I am not alone.
Let’s unplug for a bit, feel the presence of one another’s hearts, and maybe our souls will once again smile a bit more by living freely. Perhaps our individual lives will become front and center, and we will stop living vicariously through someone else’s experiences.
Let this be the gift of breaking through the scrolling and opening up conversation yet again.
We all have miraculous stories to share, so let’s remind ourselves, family members, and friends of how to share our true selves with raw honesty while looking into the eyes of a human rather than into the eyes of someone just looking at a screen.
