Friday, March 23, 2007

The Spirit of the Blog/Cellphones

When is a blog a terrible idea?

When you turn it into art. Or try to.

Seriously. As I read other blogs that I enjoy and go back to on a daily basis, I've come to realize that I go back NOT because they're pieces of literature that will survive throughout the ages, but because they have a voice that makes me want to see what's coming next. Now I don't know if my voice is such a voice for you, but I do know I've been taking this blogging thing entirely too seriously.

Since I haven't updated this thing in months and needed to get started all over again anyway, I've decided to go for the spirit of the blog. Not sure entirely what I mean by that but I think you get the point.

...

I've recently been working on a piece about parents who talk on their cellphones when they're with their kids. I'll come right out and say I'm thinking of moms more than dads, simply because in my experience, where I live, there are more women walking around with kids during the day than there are men. The thing I don't get is what is so important that they have to be on the phone for call after call while they're sharing a latte with their toddler. Okay. I've been the mother of a toddler -- three of them to be exact -- and the likelihood of scintillating conversation is kind of slim. But for me the opportunity to share that slice of time with my child trumps chatting with someone who isn't even in the room.

It's not that I never answer my phone. It could be an emergency call or it could be something I need to know for later and am waiting to hear back on. It could even be a call from an editor. But I'm certainly not going to be chattering away about the latest book I've read or checking my planner for a coffee date when I'm having face time with my kid. She's a very important person in my life and it feels disrespectful to be with her with my attention focused on someone else.

Then again, I'm not walking around with one of those earphone things, speaking to the air, either... So maybe one of you can fill me in on what there is about this cellphone phenomenon that I'm not getting.

In the meantime, my cellphone piece will be in the May issue of Washington Parent.

"Talk" to you soon!

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