I fully admit that in the past, probably up until about five or six years ago, I spent way too much time surfing the Internet and on social media, arguing with people whose minds would never be changed, and conversing on message boards with (mostly) well-meaning folks who I'd never met, whose posts sometimes would get miscontrued as criticism or mean-spiritedness because you're not seeing and hearing the person on the other side of the message.

Ironically, it was only a year or so after I went full-court press on my writing career in 2019 (where keeping an eye on current events and other news topics is essential!) that it really hit me that I was spending too much time on my smartphone (which was also causing me anxiety and depression at the time) and not enough time appreciating the company of the people sitting right next to me, or living next door, or somewhere else relatively close by.

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Think about how often we see people on their cell phones in our daily lives. 

We have witnessed it at stoplights, where people are either setting up for their next TikTok clip or are sorting through music selections. We've seen it in the stores, where shoppers either bump their carts into you or the merch because their phone has distracted them, or they believe everyone around them within a three- to five-aisle radius should hear the riveting details of how their date went the previous night.

We have spotted it on vacation trips, where people seemingly spend their entire days on the beach or in the mountains, either filming with their cellphones or taking photos with them, leaving little time to actually enjoy the day (the same holds true for concerts). We have also noticed it in the movie theaters, as people try to sneak in a social media post or a selfie before the flick starts.

Perhaps the most frustrating of all is how often it happens inside the home or when you're out with your own friends or family members. Often, at least one or more persons are spending more time tinkering on their smartphone and ignoring the conversation than they are immersing themselves in what's going on around them.

As I noted earlier, in the past I've been guilty of spending too much time on the smartphone, but I've gotten a lot better about recognizing when to put it down and engage with the people around me who are actual human companions, not digital versions.

To be sure, this is not a knock on smartphones, tablets, etc. They have their uses, and I'm glad we have them. It's just the choices that people sometimes make to spend more time on them than with those around them that have me occasionally shaking my head in frustration.

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To me, it's not about abstaining from smartphone use so much as it is putting time limits on it. Because not only does spending too much time on the smartphone keep you away from spending time with family and friends (or others) who are nearby (with exceptions of course made for people whose family members and friends live far away whose sole connection for the time being is through the phone and Facetiming), but some platforms present everything through a filtered, distorted lens that at times does not match up with what's going on in the real world.

I think there's a happy medium to be found here, if people were willing to try. But sadly, "happy" to a lot of people means more time on the smartphone than off of it.