I planned on posting a video blog to share my thoughts today as I jumped of my elipptical in a moment of inspiration during my workout. But, alas, the camera doesn’t lie and my post work out “look” just wasn’t cute.

As I sweated away, I watched an old rerun of Sex And The City and marveled at the shallow conversations and even more shallow relationships portrayed as the women sat around drinking mimosa’s during Sunday brunch and share the minute details of the previous night’s sexcapades. What got me so upset was not the down and dirty talk about sex, but rather a comparison of my own conversations with my own friends at times.  No, we don’t discuss our sex lives, but something else tends to keep us in a state of one – inch deep conversations rather than meaningful interactions that encourage and uplift each other: The Smart Phone.

The little blinking light on my phone deters me from direct eye contact as my friend shares her frustrations about the lack of a promotion at work.

The enticing icon that pops up alerting me some friend on Facebook has an important status update captures my attention rather than the friend in real life before me who drops a tear on her plate just before she attempts to tell me that her dad is dying of cancer.

The ding of a text message focuses my attention on an “urgent” need at work and steers my mind away from telling my friends that I’m frustrated with my faith.

The Smart Phone has taken it’s rightful place at the lunch table right next to the salt and pepper shakers and threatens the state of our relationships.

I knew I had a problem with checking my phone and how it effects my conversations when I compared it to a recent coffee date with my sweet friend Amy in which the phone didn’t make it out of my car by mistake. There was no OCD need to check for emails or texts and the conversation proved refreshing and uplifting simply because I kept my focus on Amy. By the time I got back to my car, I didn’t even realize I missed the presence of the phone until I saw several alerts on the screen. Thank goodness that this one hour of deep conversation brought some truth into my life: I MUST PUT AWAY THE SMART PHONE.

So here is a challenge for you. The next time you sit down with an important person in your life, leave the phone in your car or purse. See how deep and rich the conversation turns out and compare it to previous time where THE PHONE lurked in the background.

Come back here and tell me how it all worked out for you…