(Phatforums News / The Stir) — My husband and I were on a “date night” not too long ago and I was texting with my boss. The waiter laughed and shook his head: “If this were a first date, you just majorly failed,” he told me. Point taken. It wasn’t our first date (more like our 50,000th), but even still, I was being very rude.
The video of the texting bride is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s the height of rudeness when you do something to someone you love that you would never do to a friend. For instance, if a friend whipped out her phone and started texting while we were eating without giving me any sort of explanation, I would think her very rude, indeed.
If you don’t want to be with the person you are with, by all means, text. But they will get that message.
Now, in my case, I had something going on at my job that required my full attention at that moment, and my (ridiculously patient, loving) husband wasn’t bothered. But it makes me feel guilty to think that I would have spent a moment of my precious time alone with him texting someone else.
Boss or not, no one is more important to me than my husband. And my texting fingers? Don’t show that. It isn’t just texting, though. It’s Facebook, video games (him not me), television, and email that come between us. The distractions are many.
We used to cuddle each night and watch a show or a movie. Now he is on his computer and I am usually on the other side of the couch watching TV, texting, or on my computer, too.
These distractions are taking us away from each other. In the moment, it may seem like we have forever, but our life together is actually very short in the scheme of things. I don’t want to look back and think I spent 75 percent of it distracted by things that don’t matter.
I am making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of technology I use. I am closing Facebook rather than keeping it open all the time. I am placing my phone in my purse and leaving it there through the evening or through a dinner. I am trying hard to keep my family time sacred.
My husband and I expected many challenges when we were married eight years ago, but the constant intrusion of technology wasn’t one of them.
