Do We Love Technology More Than The People We're Supposed To Love?

While scrolling through Twitter, I clicked on a tweet that caught my attention. It was a photo (pictured above) of what seemed like two people in a relationship embracing but with cell phones behind each of their backs. The caption to the photo was "mobile lovers." Still curious, I Googled the caption to see if anything would possibly come up. Turns out, this photo is a painting by the artist Banksy entitled Mobile Lovers. The meaning behind this photo was very clear to me, and led me to ask the following question:

Do we love technology more than the people we're supposed to love?

Nowadays, it's no surprise that technology takes a huge part in the daily lives of almost everyone. However, according to an article in Psychology Today, titled "The Effect Of Technology On Relationships" by Alex Lickerman, he states: "Like any addiction, the real cost, for those of us who are truly addicted, is to the number and quality of our relationships with others." Being addicted to technology often takes people away from the things that matter and leaves them glued to their laptops, phones, and other devices.Technology is the source of most interactions. It could be through a text message, on FaceTime, via email, you name it. Although there are pros to technology, there are also many cons. One that I find to be the most common is when a group of friends are out for dinner, and in the middle of a conversation, someone will tune everyone out and just start tapping away on their phone.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, we should be spending less time so focused on how many likes our instagram photos got, or how many people retweeted our tweets. Instead, the main thing that we should be doing is paying more attention to the people around us. Whether it be our friends, our parents, or our significant others, you never know how much time you'll have with that person so don't take those moments for granted, but rather cherish them. When you have free time, resume to your liking and retweeting. But, while you are accompanied by someone you care about, show them your full and undivided attention.