It’s in my hand all day long.
When it’s not, I actually miss it.
I reach for it in the morning, before bed, and all throughout the day.
At stoplights, on walks, and in the bathtub.
Inside and outside.
While working and while resting.
It is fun and interesting, all the time.
It’s numbing, entertaining, and oh so hard to resist.
//
My cell phone has become less of a tool for my life, and more like my life.
I have a full-blown addiction going.
To my phone. To social media. To distraction and entertainment.
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I want to reclaim my attention span.
I want to remember how to wait without scrolling.
I want to get bored and relearn stillness.
I want to miss texts.
I want to leave my phone in my purse at dinner.
I want to experience aloneness again without perpetual online company.
I want to walk across the room to respond to my kids and not to notifications.
I want to spend time at stoplights looking up, around, and out.
I want to hear the voice of God more than the loud roar of the web.
I want to stop and hear my neighbor’s story in person instead of waiting for their Instagram live.
I want to engage with my people for fun instead of photos.
I want a book on my nightstand and my phone in the other room.
I want to take walks unplugged.
I want to wake up and seek the simple warmth of a mug full of Earl Gray rather than the wackiness of Tweets.
I want to leave my phone behind and lead my in-person life.
I want to pin fewer recipes and cook more new food.
I want to use social media in smaller doses to be inspired, informed, and in touch, but still be capable of those things hands-free.
I want to retrain myself to enjoy it, but not be fully consumed by it.
I want some of my time back.
//
I want to choose conversation over commenting.
Laughter over likes.
People over podcasts.
The glow of the stars over the glow of a screen.
Ordinary connection over highlight reel comparison.
Knee to knee groups over Facebook groups.
//
That enticing phone of mine presents me with more, yet leaves me with less.
I’ve got some better choices to make and an addiction to wrestle with.
My kids are watching and my real-world life awaits.
Today, I’m going to start working toward longer stretches with my eyes up.
It’s not a guilt thing. It’s a grab for more of this wild and precious life kind of mantra, and I’m going for it, one hands-free hour at a time.
*Image by Unsplash.
Great post. I feel exactly the same way. I am going for digital minimalism for Lent. Take the 40 days to unplug, delete basically every app (within reason as I am still separated from family/friends halfway across the world and WhatsApp being a major mode of communication here. Take the 40 days to figure out what is important to me and then start introducing it back in after Lent in a way that compliments what’s important to me. If it doesn’t do that, then I don’t need that technology. And I will hopefully be at a point where I will take a small chunk of time to go on the computer, rather than my phone, to do those things that used to consume me. We will see how it goes. But basically I’m going to try to Marie Kondo my digital life!
Man, I love the term digital minimalism. Good stuff. So hard, but so wise. I am going decision by decision. Social media only a few times a day, instead of 15! I don’t want my phone to be the first thing I see or the last. Thank you for engaging on this. It helps to not feel alone in the struggle. Eyes up today!
Wow this was amazing! I am convicted, Thank you for posting. xo
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts. It means a lot to me. Here’s to having our eyes up a tad more today.