Bad Side Effects

As I sit here with my bible open, trying to get fed in this Word, already getting physically fed.  (side bar, eating breakfast in Chick-fil-a), I watch, I see, I observe. I watch families or whatever the family is supposed to be. I see a young boy with his dad sitting at a table attempting to eat. Well, while dad is drinking coffee he stares into his phone; the son is playing Game Boy or wait is it Nintendo DS. I'm not the most high tech person, so don't quote me here. :)  Two members of one family only engaging in the newest high tech gadgets. Not realizing time is passing them by. Opportunities for relationships are passing them by. Whatever happened to talking at the breakfast table? What ever happened to eat first, play later. I see the same child who trades in his kids meal toy for an ice cream cone. Only a few tastes of the cone and he leaves it, lying on the table. Too engaged in his game to care. That uneaten ice cream cone stares at me as I think of so many little children I know, who would love the opportunity this little boy has. An opportunity to be taken out for breakfast. An opportunity to spend "quality time" with his dad. An opportunity not only to eat a good meal, but to order something extra, some dessert. Wow. The average American Family wastes about two tons of food each year. And they seem to spend even more on it. So today I challenge you, and I challenge myself too. Eat a meal without your cell phone, I-pad, I-pod or no other electronic device. Put it on silent, leave it in the car, your purse, wherever. It's so ironic, because I say that looking down at my own Blackberry Torch, which is sitting right next to my Diet Lemonade and my bible, and I'm checking the time to get along with my day. Wow, what a challenge this will be.

As I'm wrapping up my bible reading and this entry, I see the same dad, asking his son, (yeah I said asking) "Do you mind putting your game away?" The boy tells him "No, I'm still playing." An argument sand I know the dad I know is  totally embarrassed, by the expression on his face, so they walk out the door, and guess who wins this argument? Technology. Yep. You Got it. So theses are just some of the Bad Side Effects of Technology.