My first day back to the beach this spring and the weather was sunny and beautiful. I walked the pier admiring the sailboats on the blue Lake Michigan. Ducks walked among the rocks. A five-year old girl was running through the cold water screaming with delight.

I wandered over to the canal. As usual people were fishing. But, I saw something I had never seen before. A teenager fishing and playing on his phone. I thought fishing was the beacon of restfulness. A place to come back to calm. Instead, he had the pole set up against the rail to catch what goes by. On the phone he missed the quiet, the water, the birds, the lovely air.

Once that phone came into view I noticed more. A girl with a high-pitched voice was talking loudly about insurance. A mom is on her phone as her two kids play in the sand. A group of teenagers play on their phones instead of playing volleyball with the net next to their blankets. Two women text, presumably other people, as they sit next to each other in short beach chairs.

I don’t ever recall seeing that many phones on the beach. I think part of it for us in the northern hemisphere – we have been inside this cold winter. Technology kept us company. We didn’t realize we had been using it more and more. We got out the the habit of enjoying nature and hanging with friends just to talk.

Any technology habits you want to change this season?