I am sure at some point, you have gone out with someone, whether it was for dinner or ice cream. You’re telling someone about something that happened to you only to hear their response of “Hm, what?” Surprise, surprise. They were on their phone. And guess what? That is rude. If this has never happened to you, maybe you are the person always on your phone and you need to check yourself.

I think phones are great and I love mine. It’s amazing how fast we can access our news, emails and social media accounts. Our newer phones have great cameras, enabling us to take high quality images of our adventures. We can even connect with our friends and family all the way across the world. But one thing I do hate is how they draw us apart from those right in front of us.

So many moments pass in the world around you when your eyes and attention are on a screen the size of your hand. We never live in the moment anymore because we’re caught up in recording our favorite singer at a concert so we can enjoy it later. We text our best friends so much, yet, when we’re with each other, we’re still on our phones. We have amazing thoughts or statements to make and instead of talking to someone, we make a Facebook update.

Like I said, I do think phones are great and I appreciate how we can stay connected. Being apart from many friends and family is hard and smartphones have definitely made that aspect of communication easier. However, when we do get the chance to connect with our friends and family in real life, don’t waste an opportunity to truly spend time with them. And after that, you can take a picture to remember what an amazing day you had with your loved ones.