Disconnecting

This is literally what I see everywhere I go. Mothers crossing the streets holding their child’s hand in one hand and glaring at the glowing screen in the other. Couples on dates so disinterested in one another that all they do is stare in to their phone screens. It’s a sad state of affairs. I’m not immune; I’ve caught myself wasting so much time on my dumb phone sometimes that I literally do turn it off. It’s kind of disgusting the time spent on phones. There are some people that are better than others, but many are absolutely tethered to the device. I’d be concerned with how some people would function without them. Mind you, they’re not terrible. They’re very helpful for looking up medications, etc in the hospital or directions for travel. But they become a problem when we’d rather use them then interact with other people. Personally, I’m the type of person that tries to do interactions in person or at the very least via phone call. Important things I try not to handle via text or email. And I try to NEVER bring my phone out EVER in a patient’s room. That interaction is solely person to person with no phone involved. Only once has my phone come out and that was to confirm a parameter for a medication for the instructor. How about everyone else? How do you prefer to conduct important business?

(The painting is by a street artist named Banksy.)