The Cell Phone Generation

People used to put their "nose in a good book", but now they "superglue their eyeballs to a
good phone." And I'm honestly just as guilty as the next person. I have openly chosen to communicate
with my mobile device over the people right in front of me - real people.
Not the digital or uploaded breed.

I seriously feel programmed. I'll pull up the web browser on my phone to "Google" directions or
something legitimate like that, and I kid you not, "FACEBOOK.COM" is flying outta my finger tips like
they are the only letters my brain remembers, wants, needs...
"What's up, homepage!? Tell me all the things!" So. Stupid.

I look at my kids and KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would be freaking out if they spent
as much time with their cell phones as I do... as their parent. Makes me check myself.
What's necessary and what is over compulsive?! Yea, about that.

A couple Sundays ago our pastor asked us if we check in with Jesus as often as we check our
cell phones. Ouch. What's Jesus' username? I'll add Him. Not funny.

Made my heart hurt a little.

Not out of some sort of perverted idea of "Catholic guilt" blah blah blah, but because I STILL
REMEMBER my life without a cell phone. And how much I loved that "disconnected" life.
The disconnected life that allowed me to connect, capture the moment.

I find myself craving it now. I find myself longing to see the internet bars disappear and the battery
drain from "roaming." I find myself "forgetting" my phone and spending time uploading the memories,
the few precious moments we have on earth straight to my heart and not my Instagram feed.


These pictures were taken with my real camera from our Memorial Day weekend getaway -
OFF THE GRID. None of which showed up on social media. We read books, went for walks,
sat in fields of grass, threw rocks into the lake, watched a snake, snuggled, built fire,
played in the sand, ate our meals...

slowly, intentionally, engaging in the beauty of every moment -

enjoying the people given to us.

And I want to be little again.




Let's do it again.

A quiet life. Hidden.
Dull compared to the glow of the digital world, but pleasingly easy on the eyes, heart, mind.

As I sat in the ER with my children last week, a man came by to collect our insurance information.
He asked for the "best number" to reach me at. My cell number of course. He then asked for a
"land line" - a land line?! What's that? I then asked him if he had a home phone anymore.
"We are the cell phone generation! Are you kidding me?" He laughed. I laughed.

Just to be polite.

But I don't want that label. I don't want my kids to have that label.

I will remember how to live my life unplugged. I must.