Put Down That Phone

"What are you looking at?" inquired Mr. Ginley for the umpteenth time.

"F" is for...

I was sitting on the couch while some mindless TV commercial was rattling around in the background.

"Checking Facebook," I replied.

"Again? Put the phone down," he ordered.

I shrugged and set it aside. Who knows what crazy cat antic, celebrity blow-up or memory lane stroll I missed by stepping away from my chosen social media site.

He's right, of course. Too much time is wasted. Too much nonsense. Too much of everything, really.

And yet...

In my defense, it was during a commercial for Medicare or ED treatment or the "I've fallen and I can't get up" medical alert device, so I wasn't missing a slice of life or anything. And when I'm working, I don't touch my phone unless someone calls or texts me, which isn't all that often. So I'm really playing catch-up when I sit on the couch and scroll. I don't want to miss any pics of adorable relations (or friends' adorable relations). How would I know what my neighbors were up to? Or my alma mater (although, as Mr. Ginley pointed out, I haven't gone to a single high school reunion). 

Admittedly, I have found myself heading down the rabbit hole at times. I'll just go to check in quickly, and 20 minutes later, I've gotten sucked into a slew of posts about something that I felt compelled to comment on.

We saw a story on the news last night about the ridiculous amount of time kids spend scrolling through crap on their phones. How it's ruining their attention span and affecting schoolwork. How the anonymity is making them meaner toward other kids and contributing to a rise in teen suicides. While I'm certainly not on my phone the 6-9 hours these kids were, I can still see how too much of a good thing can put a dent in one's psyche.

Maybe this is a good opportunity to make a New Years resolution. To limit my time on social media to an hour or so a day. Two half-hour check-ins, one in the morning, the other at night. 

Okay, and maybe another half-hour in the middle of the day. Just in case someone is trying to instant message me.  

I'm not looking at Mr. Ginley, but I can feel him go all smug, just the same.