Show Your Honey You Love Her

   It's almost Valentine’s Day. Fellows, if you are just now realizing this you are in trouble. What could you possibly get at this moment that would be an appreciated gift?

  Maybe this could help…

  In a 2014 study dubbed “The iPhone Effect,” researchers paired up 200 participants and invited them to sit down in a coffee shop and chat with each other for about ten minutes. Research assistants observed the conversations from a distance and paid special attention to whether a mobile device was used, touched, or placed on the table during the conversation. When the time was up, participants were asked to respond to a series of questions designed to measure feelings of connection, empathic concern, and the like. These included, “To what extent did your conversation partner make an effort to understand your thoughts and feelings?” and “I felt I could really trust my conversation partner.” The results? If either participant pulled their phone out or placed it on the table, the quality of the conversation was rated to be less fulfilling compared to conversations that took place in the absence of mobile devices. ”Even when they are not in active use or buzzing, beeping, ringing, or flashing, [digital devices] are representative of people’s wider social network,” the researchers note. “In their presence, people have the constant urge to seek out information, check for communication, and direct their thoughts to other people and worlds.”

 How about you show your honey you love her by putting away the phone? It’s not just a good way for you to show love to your spouse, but for your children and your friends. Attention is a way to show love. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself”.

The best gift may not be what you got her but what you took away.