By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
Sometimes, we all need to be barked at.
A few days ago, a couple of my friends asked me to babysit their dog. They were on a trip, and Coe – a rambunctious, overly excitable blue heeler – needed company. And someone to let him outside.
Coe typically greets entrants to his home with a loud bark and a big jump, placing his sometimes muddy paws all over your clothes. All one can do is laugh and marvel in the joy of this little creature – and then go wash up.
After we played fetch in the backyard, Coe and I came back inside where the air was warmer. A few minutes passed before I fell back into an old, familiar habit: pulling out my cellphone and scrolling endlessly through Facebook.
Avoiding this is harder than one might think, especially when there’s no one there to tell you: “Put that thing away!”
But on this day, there was. Coe barked at me for pulling out my phone. Literally.
I looked down at him, and he was staring at me. Then he barked another time – a firm reminder that technology is not allowed when he’s holding the rubber ball in his mouth.
I burst into laughter. And I put my phone away.
Coe would not accept anything less than my full, undivided attention, and he told me so. Shouldn’t we be giving that same attention to everyone whose company we’re in?
When we whip out our phones and computers, we’re distracting ourselves and making more difficult – if not impossible – the act of living in the moment.
In a 2018 study chronicled in Psychology Today, 89% of respondents said they used their cellphones during a recent social encounter. Keep in mind that, according to the article, 77% of Americans own a smartphone.
Using a cellphone in the company of friends or family isn’t always bad. Using the built-in camera to take a group picture, thereby preserving a precious moment in time, is a great idea. But cellphones usually give people a reason not to talk to one another, stifling meaningful conversations. That’s a problem.
Quality conversations among young people seem rarer and rarer, and my generation is worse off because of it. Getting to know people is hard enough, and when nobody wants to talk, it’s nearly impossible.
If we weren’t so glued to our phones, we’d be more intellectually and emotionally available for talks that produce valuable connections.
I was fortunate that most of my childhood was smartphone-free. My friends and I had to talk to one another, and we’d play games together – and they were real games, not the kind to download from an app.
We were physically healthier because we were active, and we were mentally stronger because we were engaging our creative minds. We were also more socially adaptable because we were used to interacting and talking with others.
Those joys seem lacking in the lives of little lads and lasses today, and what a shame it is. I believe it’s partly because kids are being handed cellphones and tablets at the age of 4. Some parents see technology as an excuse to avoid doing their jobs as caregivers and teachers, and our world is suffering because of it.
When playing on a cellphone becomes a habit that replaces conversation, we’ve got problems. Those habits are hard to break, and they cause us to neglect the simple joys in life – like socializing with friends and playing with our favorite felines and K9s.
Adults are just as guilty of using their phones too much, too. Myself included. But luckily, someone has barked at me and reminded me to put the phone away.
The next time you’re with friends and family, keep your phone in your pocket and your heart in the conversation. Otherwise, you might need to get barked at.