I took my kids to a little burger spot a while ago and there were two families seated near us. One brought Uno to play while they waited for food, and they seemed to be having a great time together. They were laughing and being silly together.

The other had both parents on their cell phones and the kids were bored and whining that they wanted the cell phones for themselves to use. Their pleas were ignored and it was not looking like a family meal to make memories out of.

I’ve never liked phones on tables in restaurants, but this experience really made me feel much more intentional about each in person experience not being constantly interrupted by a barrage of content. The cell phone addiction has gotten bad across all age lines, and you constantly see parents setting the example that a phone is more important than a human. I’m fearful about how much worse this will become as Gen Alpha grows up and many have not had the opportunity to develop conversational skills.