Mobile Devices - please look up

It seems like most people spent most of their time looking at their mobile devices and actually miss what is going on around them. When you look around either when you are walking on a street, in a mall or sitting somewhere it seems that most people are looking down at their device and not seeing their surroundings.

At one store I saw a sign and I loved it. “We will be pleased to serve you when you are not on your mobile device.” Yes this may sound rotten but in a lot of ways it is great because why should someone try and serve a customer that either texting or talking on their mobile device and not giving the server the attention that they should be getting. I have actually seen in a store that a person has made their entire purchase at a checkout without saying anything to the cashier because they were talking on their mobile device. If you need to take a call either ask the person if you can call them back or step aside and then make your purchase after you have finished your call or chat.

There has been times when I have seen people standing in line and on their device and not hear a cashier identify which cash is free. I was behind the person when this happened and I waited for a couple of seconds and then leaned over and let the person know which cash they should have been going to. I made sure I said it loud enough so the person they were on the call with understand that people were frustrated and were walking in line as well.

Now mobile devices have actually become a danger because people are walking and staring at their screens and not watching where they are walking. This can mean that they end up walking into intersections, walking into traffic or walking into other people because they just don’t see where they are going. I know that there have been times when I have been walked into by someone that is too busy looking at their device to see where they are going. If a chat is so important that you need to be totally involved in it and not watching where you are going it is time to stop and find the chat and then continue on to where you are going. Maybe some of these people are also watching videos on their devices and just don’t think about how they are endangering themselves and others.

Even in food courts and restaurants you see a lot of people sitting at tables with other people and everyone is looking at their devices and not chatting with the people they are sitting with. Some of these people may be texting between themselves but in some cases they are watching videos or chatting with others. I think actual talking is something that is missing from most people’s life now. Texting seems to be the way some people do all of their communication and that isn’t good. Texting has so many abbreviations that people are forgetting how to either write full sentences or talk to others.

How often at concerts are people looking at the screen of their device instead of watching the concert. I have heard even some performers have requested that people put their devices down and watch the concert. I think it is something that more performers need to do so that people realize that sitting and holding their device up in front can be blocking the view of someone else and also a distraction.

Yes, mobile devices can assist you in some methods of communication but then there are the people that are seeing that the mobile device is their only way to communicate. When you are walking around, please look up and see where you are going and who is around you. When you are sitting with someone else at a table or even on transit try to talk to the person and not through the texting or chat on your device. You would be surprised what you are missing by always looking at your device.