Ok, friend. Let’s call it like it is:
We are out here caressing our phones like they pay the bills, rub our backs, and listen to our emotional rants.
Spoiler: they do none of those things. But we still reach for them more than we reach for the actual human we promised to love and hold and occasionally make out with. (Find the lie, I’ll wait.)
I mean, when was the last time any of us reached for our partner’s hand instead of our phone during commercial breaks? Or leaned in for a kiss instead of a scroll before bed? I’m guilty!
(If your screen time report just popped up while reading this—no, it didn’t. Don’t look at it. It’s rude.)
It’s Not Just You
Look, I get it. Phones are our little escape portals. They don’t talk back. They don’t ask what’s for dinner. They offer memes, dog videos, and a false sense of productivity via a color-coded calendar app we still don’t use correctly.
But the truth? We’re touching our phones thousands of times a day! Our partners? Maybe a kiss here, a high five there, a “can you move, I’m trying to reach the laundry basket” kind of moment.
And that’s a problem.
Not because we don’t love our partners. But because connection doesn’t thrive on autopilot, and right now, our thumbs are doing more connecting than our hearts (or bodies, let’s be honest).
So Now What?
This is not a “burn your phone and join a commune” kind of post. Please. I love my group chats and Target app way too much for that. But maybe it’s time we interrupt the scroll just a little more often.
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Put the phone down when we’re talking to our partners, even if they’re telling a painfully detailed story about a YouTube video we will never watch. (Tell me I am not the only one suffering?)
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Say “yes” to the cuddle instead of “hold on, I just need to check one more thing.”
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Brush up against them while making coffee, not just while squeezing past them with laundry.
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Be the one who starts the convo, sends the flirty text, or initiates the kiss, even if it’s just a forehead smooch before kid bedtime chaos begins.
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being present—in real life, with the real person you chose to do life with.
So tonight? Maybe we put the phone down and grab them instead. (And hey, if things go well, perhaps we’ll be the ones that get touched 2,617 times today.)
