The Cellenial Generation

The Cellenial Generation

I like to walk around the Orange Reservoir in South Mountain Reservation. They have done a really nice job of fixing the place up, which includes a great playground. There is often a good sized crowd of young parents with little kids.

When I walk past the playground, I have noticed a disturbing trend – many children are unattended. Let me clarify this a bit. The parents are actual there, they are just not all there. Their noses are buried so deep in their cell phones that their child could fall head first to the ground and they probably wouldn’t notice. I’ve decided to give these folks their own name – Cellenials. Catchy, don’t you think?

Last week I was leaving the reservoir, when a young Cellenial mother with 2 children was walking in the entrance. She had one in a stroller, one walking next to/slightly in front of the stroller, one hand on the stroller, the other hand texting away. You could tell it was an accident waiting to happen, and sure enough, she ran over her child who was walking besides the stroller. Ran over might be a bit of an exaggeration. More like ran into and pummeled to the ground. Well, pummeled might be a bit strong…but you get the picture. This mother was absolutely f’in clueless as to what was going on in the world around, other than what she was seeing on her cell phone.

Unfortunately, I see this all the time. Cellenials in the supermarket, talking or text while their kids run rampant; Cellenials out in the streets, paying no attention to what their kids are doing; Cellenials any public place where a parents eyes should be completely focused on their child, and they are not. I feel like screaming “Hey you on your cell phone! Your kids life is right in front of you. Not on your damn phone.”

I cannot tell you how happy I am that my kids grew up with 2 parents whose eyes, ears, and noses were firmly planted on watching them, and not trying to keep with everything else going on. These daze I have to admit that I’m on my cell phone a lot. Yes, I check twitter, scores, the weather, email, messages. And yes, there are times I feel like a slave to my phone. But honestly, there are times when I wish I could chuck the damn thing into the ocean, especially considering my iPhone is now 3+ years old (I affectionately call it an iPhone 1) and I really could use a new one. After all, sometimes you have to keep up with the Cellenials…just as long as you don’t have one run you over with their stroller.