The advancements in technology over the last decade have been great. I can send a quick text message instead of calling someone, I can Google something on my phone instead of waiting to go home and look it up and I can update my friends and family what I am doing the moment it is happening. It’s great and all, but I think it is starting to be too much.

I am a part of the generation that  didn’t grow up with technology. I didn’t learn my shapes and colors off of an iPad. When I went out to eat with my family, I didn’t sit on a phone or iPad to distract me until my dinner was right in front of me.

I go out to breakfast, lunch and dinner now and that is all I see. Young children playing on some sort of device to keep them distracted until their food comes. Teenagers acting “too cool” to be out with their parents that sit on their phones texting their friends wishing they were with them and not their family. I even see groups of friends all sitting on their phones texting, snapchatting, and Instagramming their food.

I am in no way against technology. As a journalist going into the field, it is a great way to communicate and to gather any information right when you need it. But I am sick of everyone being on their phones all the time. What happened to going out with your friends and family and actually talking to them? I go out with them for a reason; to talk to them face- to- face and to have some quality time together. If I wanted to text them, I would stay home in my very comfortable bed watching “How I Met Your Mother.”

Even if I am hanging out at a friend’s house, don’t sit there and constantly text other people, check Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I came to hangout with you to have conversations and to do something, not sit there and watch you snap a dumb picture of yourself to another friend who isn’t there. Being on your phones all the time takes away from being in the moment with the people you are with. It also gives off the impression that you don’t want to be there with those people either and you could be doing something better.

I am also not saying you can’t check your phone periodically. What I am saying is don’t be the person in your friend group that sits on their phone while your friend is trying to tell you a story that you have just completely missed because you just had to check what Kim Kardashian just tweeted or posted on Instagram. It’s rude, distracting and just flat out annoying.

Face-to-face interaction is never going to go away. People don’t realize employers want people who are working for them to have good people skills. Being attached to phones and texting all day slowly decreases your knowledge of how to interact with other people.

Next time you are out with your friends, or your family, just put your phone away. Enjoy being with them. You can miss a lot when you’re checking social media when in reality, it will still be there in a couple hours. Read about it then, and be with the ones you love now.