Every Sunday after Mass I take my girls for breakfast while my wife teaches RE. This is a really special time for us as it allows us to share time together that I know we won’t always have. Being present to each and building good father-daughter relationships is one of the most critical things I can do as a father. Being present to each other in today’s day and age can be difficult if we allow ourselves to be overtaken by all the distractions that technology presents us with.
Recently while on a business trip and again at our Sunday breakfast ritual I noticed a disturbing trend. On both occasions I witnessed a family of four all engrossed in their iPad’s or iPhone’s, all while sitting literally two feet from each other. I was fascinated to watch as they all went about their business ignoring not only what was going on around them, but more importantly missing out on this opportunity to be present to one another.
Obviously, I’m the last person who’d tell anyone that technology is bad. At the same time we have to remember that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. Just because we can take all of our digital devices with us everywhere we go doesn’t mean we should pull them out at every opportunity. Otherwise one day we might look across the table and see only strangers.
