My phone crashed to the ground yesterday. After trying everything I knew to restore life to the black, cold iPhone, I surrendered. I almost cried. Embarrassing, right? I went the next 24 hours without my phone. Just 24 hours. But I learned a lot in that one day.
I learned that I truly have forgotten how to be a human. I’ve forgotten how to work my way through an awkward conversation, or pass through a storm of depressing emotions. Normally I would reach for my phone and check any and every social media venue in the face of awkwardness, sadness, or anything uncomfortable. My phone is my own personal security blanket, and I fear that’s what it has become for most of us.
When life’s lulls come or when depressed feelings wash over us, we can dive into our phones. We try to lift ourselves up by looking at artistic Instagram pictures or try to feel reconnected by keeping up with everyone on Twitter. We are too busy trying to speak our minds in 140 characters or less that we are missing out on real conversations and real moments that will bring a lasting fulfillment.
So for a day I had to be human. I couldn’t escape my thoughts or feelings. I made myself be present in everything and actually wrestled with things. Instead of running away I faced any negative feelings that came over me. It wasn’t easy. But, in pressing through, I found I was able to reach these pocket places of rest, true happiness, and joy that were waiting for me.
So… I’m committing to putting my phone down more. I realize that technology isn’t going to move backwards no matter how ironically hipster vintage our culture tries to become. And when I put my phone down, I get to look up. When I look up I can see there’s a lot going on, a lot I’ve been missing.
It’s plain to see that we have become bound to our phones — they have got us captive. We need to break free from their subtle power over us. Even though our smartphones are a gateway to everything we can think of, they are robbing us of a certain freedom. This freedom is only felt by living in the real world. Remember this truth: “it is for freedom Christ has set us free.” Let’s not be bound to anything, no matter how accessible or acceptable it may be. That, my friends, is true freedom.
Photo by (Flickr CC) Pablo Fernández
