Are Smart Phones Getting in the Way of Your Marriage?

iphone screen
iphone screen

It's an easy trap to fall into. You have your smartphone next to you while you're in bed next to your partner and BAM! you hear it go off. It's probably an email requiring your attention. At least you think it is. Maybe it's just Facebook telling you that one of your exes "friended" you. Maybe it's someone on Twitter telling you that you're really great and if you respond RIGHT NOW, you'll get a new job.

Maybe it's not.

But you won't know until you pick it up.

So what do you do?

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If you're like many of us, you pick it up. The suspense is too great and you simply must know what that buzzing noise means.

Once you do, you've successfully allowed the Internet into your bedroom. What next?

Rather than sit on the couch together, happily watching television or a movie, you both sit side-by-side, each on your respective smartphones. It's Angry Birds. Words With Friends. Twitter. Facebook. Email. Anything.

Anything but personal interaction between partners.

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How smart is that?

The answer is, not very. I used to call myself a BlackBerry widow until I got an iPhone, which meant that I, too, could be busy! Every single waking moment, I could easily work, play, or hang out with my friends.

Where did that leave my husband and me?

Two people sitting on separate couches playing on our respective smartphones.

We could barely communicate without one of us stopping what we were doing and answering something that was clearly urgent. Except ... it was never urgent. Nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow or later that night.

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Smartphones have given us the ability to be connected all of the time.

But at what cost?

Do you "ignore" your partner to use your phone? Do you think it's ruining your relationship?

Written by Aunt Becky on CafeMom's blog, The Stir.

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