Keep Your Cellphones Away—Let’s Be With Our Friends!

Kids of all ages around the country are taking on an interesting experiment this summer at home and in the backyard. This summer, for the sake of reconnecting, kids are holding phone-free play dates to curb excessive time online. Going device-free can be a wonderful tool in the development of healthy friendships.

There is a new social movement, and according to the New York Times, a national experiment encourages children, teens, and even adults to set aside cellphones for the sake of social engagement. Back in the day when we didn’t have phones, eye-to-eye communication was the natural order of interaction, but today device usage and the need to text other friends instead of the ones right in front of you can distract you from actually conversing with the friend sitting across the table from you.

According to new studies, just placing a smartphone within our peripheral vision can ruin a conversation—even if it’s turned off and placed face-down inside of our purse or pocket. Even if the phone’s in your bag, a reminder of the ever-evolving social web in our pockets is the source of an imminent social interruption in the form of texts, e-mails, and a plethora of incoming and outgoing communications, many of which can be from sources that have little to do with the conversation happening right in front of you.

Smartphones pull us in two different directions during conversations with our friends. We miss out on profound conversations, and only get snippets because we’re divided between two worlds. Deep connections between friends —the shared glances across a restaurant table, a deep belly laugh over a mutual joke, and the quietude of enjoying the mere presence of a good friend—all of which are compromised when we’re checking what new notifications are waiting.

Let’s all be better at turning off our phones or putting them down when hanging out with friends.

Stack your phones in the center of the table when you first meet up and do not touch them until everyone has to go home. You’ll quickly realize what you’re missing!