After all, how would I be in contact with friends and family when I left the house? How would I ever shop or find my way without some clever app to show me the way? And what about all my games?!?!? Nope, it was just too much to ask of me.
We moved on and didn't discuss it again Still, I began to feel convicted in my heart. As I prayed about it, I could feel God prodding my heart to let go of the material possession and trust Him. "But my phone?" I protested to Him. I use my phone all day long- checking Facebook, Twitter, email, texting, words with friends, and so on. I love the freedom of being able to be in contact with friends and family no matter where I am. This just seemed to be more than I could bear- but the prodding continued.
So I decided to give it a try. I am going to give up the cell phone, the data and all the conveniences of the phone. What I have come to realize while praying about this was that I have come to value my phone far more than I should value any material possession. My phone is constantly on my person, when I am not checking it, I am often thinking of checking my email or various social media outlets.
While many people can handle this, I have become too attached to my phone. God tells us in the 10 commandments to have no other Gods before Him- a god is anything we give our time, talent and treasure to. I definitely have given my money to the phone service, I spend more time on my phone than just about any other device or activity per day, and clearly I treasure it, as evidenced by the near melt down I had at the mere mention that it go away. As for talent- I can quickly navigate all my apps, often toggling between two or three at a time- that's talent. So, it would appear that my phone has taken the role of a god in my heart- all that was needed was for me to bow down to it!
I heard a woman speak once about the aftermath of Super storm Sandy- she lived in New York and spoke of the hardships of hauling food and water to her apartment day after day. Then she added that because there was no electricity in her part of town, she was also forced to forage for places to charge her electronics. She stated that she and her friends placed as much emphasis on getting fresh food and clean water as they did on getting their phones charged. Doesn't that say something sad about some of us?
I thought about it- maybe I would be the same- seeking outlets wherever I could end them, toggling a search for food and water with a search for power. Isn't that sad? There are some people who can handle the technology, and I applaud those people. Those are the men and women who can put their phones down, leave them at home, walk away. To them, a cell phone is a convenience, not a lifestyle. I thought I was one of them, until my poor innocent husband casually mentioned cutting our phone service- then I realized I was not. I had become one of those people who constantly have their phones in their hands (yes, I can walk two dogs, and check my apps at the same time). I don't check my phone while driving, but I do put it right on my dash so I will know if I get a text or email, then I know to check it at the first stop light- not even a drive to to coffee shop goes without some awareness of whether or not I have received a message.
I need to get back to basics. I love to use social media- but I don't use it all the time, so my laptop is more than adequate. There is no reason I cannot check it once or twice a day on my computer- not once in all the years that I have had my phone, has a catastrophe happened that I was alerted to over the phone. I want to return to basics and remember what is important.
It has been said that while we are living in the digital moment, we are missing out on true moments. I want to start living again and experiencing moments in my life- not just reviewing the moments that others have documented. I want to experience the wonder of each day, of each sunrise and sunset. I want to sit and contentedly read a book without checking my email every few minutes. I think if more of us turned off our technology, we would start to notice one another again.
I will document my experiences with this over the next several weeks on this blog, under the page titled "Giving up my false god". I hope that what I learn will benefit others as well as myself.
So I decided to give it a try. I am going to give up the cell phone, the data and all the conveniences of the phone. What I have come to realize while praying about this was that I have come to value my phone far more than I should value any material possession. My phone is constantly on my person, when I am not checking it, I am often thinking of checking my email or various social media outlets.
While many people can handle this, I have become too attached to my phone. God tells us in the 10 commandments to have no other Gods before Him- a god is anything we give our time, talent and treasure to. I definitely have given my money to the phone service, I spend more time on my phone than just about any other device or activity per day, and clearly I treasure it, as evidenced by the near melt down I had at the mere mention that it go away. As for talent- I can quickly navigate all my apps, often toggling between two or three at a time- that's talent. So, it would appear that my phone has taken the role of a god in my heart- all that was needed was for me to bow down to it!
I heard a woman speak once about the aftermath of Super storm Sandy- she lived in New York and spoke of the hardships of hauling food and water to her apartment day after day. Then she added that because there was no electricity in her part of town, she was also forced to forage for places to charge her electronics. She stated that she and her friends placed as much emphasis on getting fresh food and clean water as they did on getting their phones charged. Doesn't that say something sad about some of us?
I thought about it- maybe I would be the same- seeking outlets wherever I could end them, toggling a search for food and water with a search for power. Isn't that sad? There are some people who can handle the technology, and I applaud those people. Those are the men and women who can put their phones down, leave them at home, walk away. To them, a cell phone is a convenience, not a lifestyle. I thought I was one of them, until my poor innocent husband casually mentioned cutting our phone service- then I realized I was not. I had become one of those people who constantly have their phones in their hands (yes, I can walk two dogs, and check my apps at the same time). I don't check my phone while driving, but I do put it right on my dash so I will know if I get a text or email, then I know to check it at the first stop light- not even a drive to to coffee shop goes without some awareness of whether or not I have received a message.
I need to get back to basics. I love to use social media- but I don't use it all the time, so my laptop is more than adequate. There is no reason I cannot check it once or twice a day on my computer- not once in all the years that I have had my phone, has a catastrophe happened that I was alerted to over the phone. I want to return to basics and remember what is important.
It has been said that while we are living in the digital moment, we are missing out on true moments. I want to start living again and experiencing moments in my life- not just reviewing the moments that others have documented. I want to experience the wonder of each day, of each sunrise and sunset. I want to sit and contentedly read a book without checking my email every few minutes. I think if more of us turned off our technology, we would start to notice one another again.
I will document my experiences with this over the next several weeks on this blog, under the page titled "Giving up my false god". I hope that what I learn will benefit others as well as myself.
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