[Note: Every Friday we post a new rant from one of our writers, edited only for typos and spelling.This new series is not for those easily offended or for those who only like to play nice. So read this before you start posting your comments.]
I was standing in line last week to see Macklemore with my son. The line was about 2,000 deep to get into the Shrine Auditorium. People of all ages were standing outside around 7:30pm in the evening waiting for doors to open. There was a couple in front of us in their 20’s and a couple in back of us, also in their 20’s. My 13-year old son and I were sandwiched in between two couples that didn’t know each other but both had something in common.
THE MEN WERE BOYS
THE GIRLS WERE WITH TOTAL LOSERS
THE GIRLS DESERVE BETTER
THE BOYS WERE CLUELESS
Let me explain and no, girls, you are not off the hook on this rant just because you don’t play GAME OF WAR or other dumb video games like clash of clans. Some of your moms play candy crush and drinks diet coke all day long on Facebook, we can get into that later.
Both men, let’s just call them boys, were standing up talking to their girlfriends or dates while their faces were straight down into the phone screen. The screens were slanted like the guy in the picture and I could clearly see they were playing that game…Game of War. The sad thing was the women were talking to the guys despite both of them being more engaged with the game then the girl standing next to him. I stood and starred and told my son, “Nolan, you will never be that guy.”
Let’s talk about that guy in his 20’s today.
He can’t have real conversations with people in front of him.
He plays too many video games.
He can text but he can’t talk on the phone to a girl.
He lives at home and probably still plays Xbox more then doing anything productive.
The boy in back of us had a screen cracked so badly on his phone that we were shocked he didn’t cut his finger every time he was trying to touch the screen. I joked and told Nolan he has no money to even get his phone screen fixed because he probably doesn’t have a job and lives at home. I am not being harsh…OK I am, it’s a rant.
The girls stood there and didn’t say, “Get off your phone!” “Look at me, pay attention to me.” They took their half interested conversation and made it seem like it was normal.
Why the hell are you playing Game of War while you are on a date?
We have this rule with my kids – I posted it here.
I have this other rule with my sons iPhone, which he finally got. He can only have 5 games on it. I am 40 and I have zero game apps on my iPhone. My kids and family give me crap about being on my phone too much but my phone is for work. I am doing something productive on it, not playing Clash of Clans. There still needs to be a balance and you still need to put it down.
We live in a world today, where you can look at your screen more then you can look at someone in their eye.
We live in a world today where we miss out on moments in front of us because we are to busy capturing them for later.
We live in a world today where we are too busy “checking in” to the location that we are at to share with the friends who aren’t with us instead of checking in with the friends who are with us at that location.
[shortcode-variables slug=”accountability-pdf-inline”]Women-you are just as guilty. You might not be playing Clash of Clans but you are scrolling through an Instagram or Pinterest feed instead of engaging with the person next to you.
You and your selfies. I hate selfies. I hate selfie sticks and everything about this generation that thinks they can take a good photo by themselves. How about talking to the people in real life in front of you and just saying, “Can you take this photo, please?”
At every stop you make on your night out with girlfriends, you don’t need to stop and take a picture of each thing you are doing to share with your other friends. Enjoy the friends that you are there with.
This is creating a mess all around us. People staring at their screens instead of staring at each other and people at home watching all their friends do things they wish they could do. Except when you see all the pictures, you wonder if they really were present for any of this.
Remember back in the day when you went somewhere great or saw something amazing and then you called your friends the next day and told them what happened? That is sort of like waiting a week to get your photos developed. A concept no one knows anything about right now.
Instead, we post everything instantly and then there is no need to actually talk because I saw you posted you were at Macklemore on Instagram so I don’t need to ask you or hear from you the next day about the concert.
I am not killing social media or technology. It is a great thing, but when you give a device with no boundaries to kids at a young age, they turn into adults who don’t know anything better. The crowd that is in their 20’s right now is living proof of this and an example to my 13-year old of who I don’t want him to be. So, some tips and things to try:
– Enjoy a night out with friends and leave your phone at home. Imagine waiting in between opening acts or headliner at a concert and you can’t look down at your phone during the intermission. You have to talk to the other people you came with…wow.
– Never take another selfie. EVER. YA, EVER. The photos look bad. Women don’t sit at home or in your car and keep updating your facebook profile with a new selfie. They all look bad and you look just as bad because it screams out you are at home by yourself with no friends or family to take a photo of you. Ask people around you…even 2-year olds know how to use a camera on a phone these days. The pictures look better and makes you have a conversation with someone, not just stare at yourself.
– Never check-in on Facebook or other apps at where you are at. I will allow you to add a location to your photo on Instagram but checking in-come on. Please stop. Some of your Facebook feeds look like GPS maps. I know where you ate, where you saw a movie and stopped for gas. No one cares that much about you.
– Men-yes men, anyone over 18 should not have video games on their phones. Get the Kindle app, iBooks app or 1,000 other apps that will help you be productive instead of video games on your phone. No video games on your phone-try it. I will let you play your Xbox at home on limited occasions, but you don’t need to walk around with games on your phone.
– Women stop playing Candy Crush and games on Facebook. Hit the gym, get outside, play with your kids and do something productive. Don’t invite me to play either, I will just laugh and make fun of you in front of you and behind your back.
– Enjoy the people you are with more then you enjoy the photos you take.[shortcode-variables slug=”x3watch-bottom-ad-premium”]