Sounds of Silence

I've always wondered about the vision Simon and Garfunkle put together with their song The Sound of Silence. I couldn't imagine a world where people communicated without speaking, but I can say that at our last family gathering, as my husband and I looked around at the family sitting on the five recliner couch with phones in their hands communicating without speaking, I finally figured it out. I am sure I'm not the only one who has seen this change. I deeply regretted our inability to communicate with the kids except through texting and I believed the days of verbal communication to be over and it made me sad. I went back to the song The Sound of Silence and discovered that Pentatonix had done a fabulous job of recreating the music. I'd encourage you to listen to the words and feel the sounds. You might change your mind about time online.

The Days the Phones Died

The parents got hip to the silence of their kids and something miraculous happened in our family. People, including teenagers, are talking again. Phones are gone, games are gone, computers are gone for the majority of the day.  Chat time on Facebook, Instagram, and Disqus is silent except for an hour each day. The silence that permeated family dinners has given way to discussions that cover everything from food to what it's like to be a teenager. Trust me, I'm hearing things that make me nervous, but at least someone is hearing them instead of messages being tapped out over a phone and sent into the ethers for everyone to read. Of course, if something serious comes up, which it has, I relay it to the parents immediately.  

Teenagers are a different sort of human being. They think they know everything until they don't. They actually called me on the phone for advice which totally made my day. After all, our children and grandchildren are our legacy and I didn't want them to go to the internet for everything. Personal connection is important and they were losing that faster than I'd ever thought possible. But it's back! And it isn't texting, it is full out talking and talking and talking. Children and teenagers need to learn the art of communication and personal relationships. Maybe this is the future Google and Facebook and the rest have in mind for us but I am hoping more parents step up and stop kids from worshiping a phone.  

​Are you with me?