A man surnamed Zhang invited his cousins to have dinner with their grandfather. Since the old man wanted to have a lively conversation with the grandchildren, he left the dinner table angrily when he saw them busy playing with their mobile phones without being interested in any conversation. People should realize that it is far more important to have people-to-people conversation than people-to-machine fun, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

Mobile phones have indeed made communication convenient and quick, but they have also brought about negative consequences. For example, students obsessed with mobile phone apps perform poorly in school. Even some adults become estranged from relatives and friends because of their obsession with cell phones. That is not to say that mobile phones alone are to blame for the sorry state of affairs.

Some years ago, some people complained that they didn't get enough time to visit their hometown to meet their parents. This is surprising, because after the government increased the number of public holidays, people certainly have more time and opportunities to visit parents.

But even when they do visit their parents, many of them cause discomfort to their parents by playing with their mobile phones all the time, forgetting that filial piety requires children to take care for their parents and have more heart-to-heart conversations with them.

No wonder, the grandfather got angry when he saw his grandchildren playing with mobile phones after he had taken the trouble of cooking for them. The grandchildren seemed to treat the old man no better than a nanny.

It's time people realized that they have to free themselves of their dependence on mobile phones to bridge the psychological gap with the elderly.

The distance between the young and the aged will increase if the youth don't respect and support senior citizens and have more heart-to-heart talks with them. And grown-up children should make every effort to fulfill their filial duty.

(China Daily 10/19/2012 page9)