It was a sunny, beautiful day. The air was crisp and inviting. It was Friday and, having the day off from work, the young man decided to go for a walk after lunch. He stopped at a park that marked the completion of his two-mile walk to rest and have a few sips of water. He sat next to an elderly gentleman, facing the pond where three geese eyed them suspiciously.
When the young man said hello to his fellow bench partner, the elderly gentleman told him his story. Every day, for the past 30 years, he had worked in a building that faced this park. Most of those days, like that day, he took his lunch break there. He would sit, weather permitting, on one of the park benches, preferring the ones that lined the perimeter of the small pond. Frequent park guests included mothers with baby carriages and toddlers in tow. He said that it was uplifting for him to see the young children playing on the swings and the slide or tossing a ball around. But, as the years passed, he had seen more and more people sitting and even standing as they seemed glued to their pocket phones. It became a sad sight for him when children, even small ones, preferred their phone games to tossing a ball, using the swing set, or trying to skip a stone across the pond. He said that he thought that the dogs felt it too, as they tried to urge their owners into playing a bit without checking their phones.
This is not an unfamiliar scene in today’s world. Children of all ages own they own phone or use their parent’s phones. Younger ones may be just playing games but older children seem to rely on social media in lieu of spending time with others. Even at parties or social events, rarely do you see anyone not using a phone. What are the consequences of this new lifestyle, especially for children? Sadhguru answers this important question.
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