I sometimes find myself looking around restaurants and noticing something that makes me pause.
Not the food. Not the service. The silence.
There’s a couple sitting opposite each other, perhaps on a beautiful plaza in Jávea, a beachfront terrace in Benidorm or a tucked-away tapas bar in Alicante. The drinks arrive, the food is served… and neither of them says a word. They’re both looking at their phones.
Of course, every table tells its own story. They could be checking directions, sharing photos with family or simply enjoying a quiet moment together. It’s none of my business.
But it does make me wonder whether we’ve all become a little too accustomed to filling every spare second with a screen. Is mobile phone use stealing the art of conversation?
Are we guilty of too much mobile phone use?
I’m certainly not pointing fingers. I spend far too much time on my own phone. Like most of us, I instinctively reach for it while waiting in a queue or sitting through a TV advert.
They are brilliantly useful devices, and I’m certainly not about to suggest we should all throw them into the Mediterranean.
At home, though, we’ve found a few simple habits that seem to help. Phones stay away from the dinner table, and sometimes they’re switched off altogether. It’s less about banning technology than making sure it doesn’t quietly become the default companion to every moment.
A survey that made me think about mobile phone use
Perhaps that’s why a new survey caught my attention this week. Nearly 40% of people say smartphones have damaged their own ability to concentrate, while more than three quarters believe they’ve harmed society’s attention span as a whole.
That’s an interesting contrast. Many of us seem more likely to notice the effects in the wider world than in ourselves.
The younger generations appear especially aware of it. Around half of those aged between 18 and 34 say they’ve tried to change their phone habits because they were concerned about their ability to focus.
Some noticed an improvement, while others didn’t. Either way, it’s striking that so many are thinking about the balance they’re trying to achieve.
Everyday life in Spain
What struck me wasn’t so much the statistics as how familiar they felt. Walk through almost any town and you’ll probably see families sharing a table while each person occasionally checks a screen, or friends breaking conversation to glance at a notification. It’s become such an ordinary part of daily life that we barely notice it.
Spain has long been admired for its social culture. Long lunches, late dinners and conversations that continue well after the plates have been cleared away. The sobremesa, where people linger around the table instead of rushing off, remains one of the country’s most cherished traditions, and it’s something many people fall in love with after moving here.
Hopefully, that’s a tradition that continues to thrive alongside modern technology rather than being gradually squeezed out by it.
Technology isn’t the enemy
I’m not suggesting smartphones are ruining society. They help us stay in touch with family across the world, navigate unfamiliar places, translate menus and even pay the restaurant bill without reaching for cash. They are remarkable tools.
The challenge, perhaps, is simply remembering that they’re tools.
Maybe the answer isn’t a dramatic digital detox. Most of us probably wouldn’t keep that up for long anyway. Perhaps it’s just the occasional conscious choice. Leaving the phone in your pocket while you have coffee with a friend. Turning it face down during dinner. Sitting on the beach for half an hour without feeling the need to capture every wave.
None of those moments will change the world. But they might help us enjoy a little more of the one that’s already in front of us.
