Multi-tasking Time With People



Photo by kkDonut

With the year winding down, and the holidays soon to be behind us and forgotten, I have come to a new goal for the rest of this year and every year after that.

I am going to stop multi-tasking my attention while around friends.

I am the queen of packing stuff into a day. I usually over book or sometimes hang out with one friend and make plans to go out with another shortly after. I usually have more then one activity, or job, planned per day, and I shall and will continue to do that.

What I am going to change is my attention, well as best as my gnats attention span will allow me, to be in the moment and place with my friends and family. Or whomever I'm currently spending time with.

In the new connected world we live in work and home  life doesn't always have a barrier. Your phone number is no longer attached to a location but your person. People can call or text you about anything, anywhere, any time of the day. They usually expect an immediate response. With sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and other I have yet to figure out what or where they are, people are constantly in contact with other people. 

All day every day, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Yet, people are just as much disconnected to each other as they are connected.



As a server I see it all the time. An entire family sitting at the table not talking, everyone has their phones pulled up, reading my blog(okay probably not), playing on Facebook, playing games, downloading new apps that will not be used again, listening to music, texting other people.

I freely admit that I am just as guilty as the next person. I've been on the phone with a friend and while they are talking the TV was on and I zone out. I've been texting and checking my phone while hanging out with other friends. I've played on Facebook and this blog while sitting in a room full of people where conversation and games could have been played.

Recently, I went to dinner with someone, and they kept checking their phone. Not only did I call this person out on it, he said he was just checking the time, it hit home the importance of paying attention with those around you.

I was giving him My time, My attention, My conversation, My presence, and yet, he kept checking his phone. I was slightly hurt and upset by his actions.

While driving home though, I thought about all the times I've done that to other people. I had been just as rude as he had been.

People today are, and are expected to be, more connected then ever before.

But what is wrong with hitting the ignore button? Is it so wrong to actually turn the phone off or lave the ringer on silent so you can give your attention 100% to the people around you? Have real conversations, have full sentences(I'll admit these are hard for me on the best of days), pay attention to the words being said, while listening to the tone and understanding the meaning without emoticons? 

I am going to challenge myself to try and work harder to being a person again, not just a body in the room. I hope you will too.