Sutton and I were at a children’s show last weekend, one of those large cartoon character productions with $5 Sno-Cones and $5 and $10 balloons.
Thanks to a contraband juice box and small toy smuggled in a backpack, I avoided both of those pitfalls. While I might have avoided the sticker shock, that doesn’t mean I was out of the shocking woods.
We were sitting behind two moms and their children. The kids were both about Sutton’s age, probably between 3-4. They were cute kids and, all things considered, well behaved.
What was amazing about the entire situation was the mothers spent the entire show – some hour and a half – text messaging. Their thumbs were flying over their phones with a speed formerly reserved for the fastest member of the typing pool.
Even stranger, it seemed half the texts were to each other. They would type into their phone, send the message and then look at each other and laugh.
Whatever they were discussing was apparently very funny. It was also apparently urgent, as they spent the bulk of the show communicating via their cell phones.
They continued to text message as they made their way out of the arena. I wanted to see if they would continue to text as they loaded their children into their cars, but lost track of them in the crowd.
Enough of that, I thought. Those ladies were an aberration, I thought.
I was wrong.
Now on alert, I started noticing people sending text messages in just about every setting. There were those who held up others in the grocery aisle so they could LOL with their friend. Or, the man I saw sitting at a green light so he could shoot a message to a buddy.
Then there’s the lady in front of me at church who carried on a long text conversation throughout the service Sunday morning. Maybe she was planning her Sunday School lesson. I doubt it.
I can’t imagine what these people were talking about that was so importance. It’s long been my thought that no one – except maybe a heart surgeon or one awaiting heart surgery – needs to be accessible via 24-hour communication. But that’s the type of society we’ve become.
Here’s my advice. Quit text messaging all the time. Enjoy the Curious George show with your kids. Get moving in the grocery store. Pay attention at a traffic signal.
Nothing – except that heart surgery, of course- is that important.