BLOG: Hey Daddy, Time Out! Dad Ignores Son While on Facebook

The other day I went to McDonalds to grab breakfast and I came upon something that was really disturbing. Seated nearby I saw a father and son having breakfast. What could be disturbing about this common occurrence? Well the dad had his laptop out and was totally engrossed online and totally ignoring his son who was about 2 years old.

I could not take my eyes away from this tragedy as I saw the dad first on Yahoo Messenger to chat and then he logged into his Facebook account. There is nothing that could have been so urgent as this dad stared at his computer screen for over ten minutes. Never looking over at his beautiful son’s face and eyes during breakfast out.

The son sat there sort of playing with his cut up pancakes and not eating. The son could see me looking at him as he looked around for any human face to interact with. I began to wonder if later that day the dad’s wife or girlfriend would ask him if anything fun or precious happened that day at breakfast and the dad would have nothing to report.

This is a sad commentary on how our society is so preoccupied with electronic devices or laptops as they raise kids. There is less time for the human experience and I wonder how this will affect kids and teens as they yearn for affection, love, acknowledgement and their parent’s time. Time sucked away on something not important at all. Precious moments now missed, as the gift of their child is staring at them in real time and not online.