A few days ago I stumbled upon the Apple ad entitled “Misunderstood”. In this ad, a boy is on his iPhone the whole time during the family’s Christmas party. When they went sledding – he was on his phone. When decorating the tree – he was on his phone. At the end of the advertisement it ended up that the boy had used his phone to record the whole party and made a video for the family that he showed at the end of the night. When reading articles around the internet, I heard nothing but praise for the ad. But to me – the ad was anything but praiseworthy.
In my opinion – I’d rather have someone physically present in mind and body rather than video footage of the event. I’d rather have that person interact with me, play games with me, help me make food for Christmas dinner.
This Christmas I’ll be putting down my phone and writing a follow up blog about my experience with my “Phone Free” Christmas. I urge you to do the same. Put the phone down. Take in every moment you can with your families. There’s a time and place for technology – and that’s not during the holiday.