Well, I just spent another evening out with my friends, who spent more time with their phones than with me. I am sick of taking second place to an electronic device.
—angry
[patty]
Normally, I would blame this all on the younger generation, but I was having lunch with this lovely17-year-old and noticed that her phone was nowhere in sight. I asked about it and she said, “When I am with my friends, why should I be concerned about what everyone else is doing?” Let me repeat, she is 17! Kudos to her parents, but more important, kudos to her for understanding that personal relationships are forged face to face, not via text messages. So, suggest your friends put away the phones, unless they’re parents with babies or doctors on call. If they just can’t handle it, they can always excuse themselves to go to the bathroom and check their phones from the privacy of their stall.
[raschelle]
Resistance is futile, people. We can rage against devices at dinner or we can embrace the change and the benefits that come with it. I, for one, believe that my phone makes me more engaging and a better conversationalist. For instance, when one of my friends says, “Hey did you see that pirate movie with that one actor in it, you know the guy who was in 21 Jump Street back in high school?” I no longer have to hem and haw and let the conversation die. Now I can simply pull out my device and Google 21 Jump Street to find out the actor is Johnny Depp and, as a bonus, I can see that his life has been rather interesting these past few years. I keep the conversation moving along, and I have added another dimension to the chat. Yay, me! Seriously, relax—people have long let their minds wander during social interaction, the difference is, now we can see it.
It seems that every weekend, I contact my friends and make all the plans for our group. If I don’t, we end up doing nothing. I am tired of always being the planner!
—julie the cruise director
[patty]
There are planners and organizers in the world, and there is everyone else. I am a planner/ organizer. Which means when I see a concert I want to go to, I find out which friends want to go,then purchase the tickets. If it is time for a girls’ night out, I am likely the one who sends the email to get the ball rolling. And don’t get me started on any kind of vacations or trips. That said, if I didn’t plan and organize, I would lose my mind. It is just who I am, and I suspect it is just who you are. So I say: Embrace your role. Periodically, make your group refer to you as Madam President or some other honorary title so they understand that you do the bulk of planning. Realize that someone needs to be in charge, so why not you? And yes, I was the Student Council president in high school.
[raschelle]
Well, as a lifelong member of the ‘everyone else’ team, I want to say thank you. Thank you to the planners of the world. Who knows where we would be without you. I would likely be at home every night tweeting and Snapchatting, and when all else fails, Facebooking. The non-planners, or maybe I should call them the spontaneous ones, love freedom and the excitement that comes from not knowing what will come next. There is pure joy in that, joy that you will never know unless you take the sage advice from the lead in Frozen and let it go! (OK, OK, everyone groan now! But that song will be with you all day).
[Patty Hannum wants everyone to know that the Backtalk Girls have a Facebook page but she is continually disappointed at the number of ‘likes’ or ‘friends,’ or whatever it’s called. Raschelle Burton is convinced that Facebook is ‘so over.’ You can find her on Snapchat, if you’re hip, that is.]
