So today I drove into the big city, well the almost big city, ok it was really a suburb but the population is really high. I share that with you because the numbers change for people watching when I go into an urban area.

Luckily for me the reason to go in the first place was work-related but, double rainbow lucky, the work took a lot less time than anticipated. Naturally that meant it was time to people watch while feeding my belly some nutritious food. There is a pretty good place close by where they serve a half decent dim sum and, feeling kinda dumplingish, that’s where I went.

I waited in line with the rest of the throngs of hungry folk. I watched the cooks creating their little treasures behind the counter, throwing in a bit of this and a lot of that and then wrapping it all up in a steamy bit of rice paper. I watched the dumpling coming out of the steamer. Nobody said anything as we waited in line, we just waited and marvelled. (Well at least that was my experience.) As I placed my order I tried to remember the proper words for what I wanted. I was trying to be respectful of the language while showing that, in some way perhaps, I was taking an interest in the person preparing and serving me my food.

I made my way to an empty table with my plate of steaming hot dumplings and took a minute to be thankful for the deliciousness I was about to embark upon. The smells, the texture, the taste: heaven. Thanks done I tuck into my little feast enjoying my own little place at my own little table in this urban spot full of people. As I take the time to look around I notice that the place is packed full: people are everywhere and they’re all doing the same thing.

Wait! If you thought I was going to say eating you’d be wrong. They were on their cell phones while they were eating. Truth! I counted at least twenty cell phone users in the area directly surrounding me. The guy sitting at the table right beside me was having a very heated conversation with somebody but I don’t know who it was because he was on his phone. A very beautiful young woman was sitting at a table with her (I’m guessing) boyfriend.

They both had food: he had a cell phone, she ate her entire meal alone, while he carried on a conversation with the guy on the other end of the line! I was really tempted to go talk to her  and say something like “My dear sweet beautiful woman find yourself a guy who believes you are worth taking the time to talk to. Believe in yourself enough to know that eating by yourself when you have company is just not acceptable behaviour.” I didn’t but I wanted to.

I read a statistic recently stating that the North American population is just a little kinda obese. Ok maybe a lot and that includes my country, Canada. There are all sorts of theories about why we’re all so obese: not enough activity, too much fat in our foods, too much time spent watching tv or hanging out with our computers, and that may be true, but I have a theory of my own.

I believe cell phones have more calories than any junk food and here’s why.Nobody is present while they eat, it’s mindless not mindful. There is no gratitude. There is no understanding of where the food came from. There is no being thankful and mindful of the kind and good folks who grew the food or for the folks who prepared the food.

Our eating habits have become thoughtless and rushed and disconnected which will, in my humble opinion, lead one to eat simply because and that leads to obesity. You know those phones with mobile apps on them? Maybe there should be one on there that gently reminds the person using the phone that, while you are eating, it can be turned off.  #justsayin.