Who needs family when you have the world at your fingertips, right?

Apparently some families still gather around the table to eat dinner together, but what about the phones and devices we bring with us?

A non-profit called Common Sense Media is trying to illustrate that this just ain’t cool, and they enlisted the help of ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

Guess who’s a social media addict now and can’t get enough of those likes? Yep, it’s Will Ferrell.

Check out some of the 15- and 30-second ads:

Other than likes on social media, how is anyone supposed to feel validated? Admit it, you saw a bit of yourself somewhere in there.

According to Adweek, Will feels pretty strongly about the topic:

Ferrell and his wife Viveca are personally committed to the cause, Common Sense tells Adweek. “As a family, they are focused on putting down devices and sharing quality time together, and dinner time is an easy way to do that,” the group says. (Ferrell donated his time to support the campaign.)

Enlisting the help of Ferrell as the dad is always going to help drum up some interest, but Common Sense’s research shows that it’s not just the parents who are at fault:

According to Common Sense, 42 percent of children 8 and under have their own tablet device, up from less than 1 percent in 2011. Also, their average amount of time spent with mobile devices is up nearly tenfold in that period, from five minutes a day in 2011 to 48 in 2017…

More than two in five parents (42 percent) can’t remember the last time their family had a device-free meal. And millennial parents have an especially hard time remembering the last time they broke bread without a device at the table (49 percent), compared to Gen Xers (37 percent) and Boomers (33 percent).

Let’s return to the good ‘ol days and put away the devices, talk amongst each other, bicker with the family and slowly but surely turn against your own blood.

[source:adweek]