The Case for Phubbers. Who Phubb.

I’ve been “phubbing” lately, and I bet you have been too.

Dang, it’s likely taking over our lives and we don’t even know it.

Phubbing. (I'm told the word comes from Australia.) The act of being on our phones, ignoring what’s going on around us, distracted by nothing as we endlessly scroll, while snubbing those who are trying (sometimes quite dramatically) to get our attention.

At our house, we’re both guilty of phubbing. And it’s ridiculous how phubbed-up it is.

But who can blame us? These are bizarre times, friends.

Socially isolating, physically distancing, travel-cancelling times.

Trying to keep our sanity we turn to our phones; not just for news but for ANYTHING that will distract our minds from how HARD. THESE. TIMES. ARE.

We’re looking for connections any way we can (hello Facebook, Instagram, Word with Friends), trying to escape all of the news and politics (hello Pinterest, Horticulture, Fixer-Upper). (And p.s.: who KNEW you could learn so much on YouTube............)

I can waste half a day scrolling through a travel site and all the extra links – if I can’t ACTUALLY travel for the foreseeable future I can find hours of entertainment learning about Irish castles and whiskey, Florence art and Tuscan wine, and Swiss cows and cheese fondue. Speaking of cheese – don’t get me started on all of the recipe sites I’ve stumbled onto. Now, there’s a rabbit hole if ever there was one!

Bottom line for me? Right now I’m a Phubber. I phubb. I’ll be phubbing for a while yet. And if I phubb-up and don’t hear John tell me that dinner is ready, that might not ... actually ... be a bad thing. (hello Covid’s extra 5 lbs).