Addiction, Obsession, Dependance, Preoccupation, Digital Umbilical Cord

One guess for what the title of my blog refers to today. Yep, we are talking about the smartphone. A blessing or a curse. A benefit or a detriment. An aid or a crutch. 

All of the above.

So, I was sitting in the mall the other day, doing a little people watching.  Lots of tourists in the town I’m in – Europeans, Americans, Russians, and Asians (and so on).  Truly a melting pot and that’s especially true in a retail mall where there is one universal behavior we all have in common – shopping. As I’m sitting there observing (please note I was not on my phone nor was I even holding it) I started to count how many people were visibly engaged with their smartphones – either actively using their phones while they were walking, or holding their phones in their hands while walking or standing, or where their phone was visibly showing on their person (in their pocket or sticking out of a purse or armband, etc.).  The final category was finding a person who was just walking with no phone visible which I’m making a broad assumption they didn’t even have a phone on themselves at all if you can believe that!

I must have observed at least a couple hundred people walking by and can honestly say at least 60% (the vast majority) were walking either by themselves or in a group and they all had their phones in their hands which they were actively using (talking, tapping, or swiping). About 35% had a phone they were either holding in their hand, or it was somewhere on their person, easily visible and ready for use.  There were a small few (at first, I thought the percentage would be zero) that were just walking, looking at the stores and store items or walking with someone and actually talking (you know, speaking words with your mouth to engage similarly with another person or persons). 

I’m really not trying to make a judgement here but that scene above (which I now see everywhere, even at restaurants where people are sitting together at dinner but each of them are in their own worlds swiping away and ignoring each other) just makes me sad.  How can society be so together yet so isolated all at the same time? Whatever happened to the phrase, “Stop and smell the roses?”  I guess you could just Google a picture or video of a rose but you can’t smell it nor feel the gentle wind and warmth of the sun on your face.

I realize for the majority of the world today I’m speaking to deaf ears and nothing I’ve just said resonates at all.  Smartphones are a way of life and that’s not changing.  If anything, with the dawn of AI, they will take over the role of thinking that our brains formerly occupied if they haven’t already. 

More and more, I realize (as my last blog stated) that I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home.  Maybe as I get older, I see things differently.  I’m finally able to slow down, stop looking for the latest trends, technology, and opinions, and just…stop to smell the roses. 

Works for me.  I’ll wave at you next time you walk past me at the mall.  Hopefully you’ll notice and wave back.  Have a blessed day.

• (Jesus said) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

• Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! (I Samuel 12:16)

• Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. (Ecclesiastes 9:9) 

• Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10) 

• This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalm 118:24)


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