You’d think, from the title, that this post is going to be about mobile optimization or responsive design or app development, but it’s not. What I mean by “mobile minded” is that so many people I see – from tweens to people in their 40s – almost always have their minds on one thing: their smartphones.

You’ve seen it too: you’re out at a bar or restaurant, and the group of four or five people at the table next to you (or maybe even at your table) have their noses buried in their iPhones or Samsung Galaxies, only taking intermittent breaks to talk to the actual people who are sitting right in front of them.

Then there are the folks in line at the coffee shop who can’t seem to bear waiting in line for that one minute without pulling out their phones to see what’s happened on Facebook since they checked two minutes ago.

I’ve been one of those people before too – but no longer. I don’t want to be on my iPhone looking at that Instagram photo you just posted while you were sitting across from me instead of just laughing with you about whatever funny thing just happened. And I don’t want to be the person who eschews interaction with the barista or other people around me at the coffee shop for more screen time.

I’d rather nod in agreement with what you just said to me and dive deeper into that conversation than just hitting the Like button. I want to listen to you tell me about the interesting article (or, God forbid, an actual book) that you read recently so I can learn something new and learn more about you as a person instead of just hitting “Share” and posting it on my timeline because I read the first paragraph of the article you posted and thought it was sorta cool.

I was sitting waiting for a friend in one of my favorite bars in Denver recently, and I noticed the beautiful mod chandeliers they have hanging there. I’ve been going there for years, but I’d never noticed them because my eyes were usually locked onto my iPhone instead of taking in the world around me and experiencing what’s happening, here and now. And it was pretty nice. Wanna join me?