An E-Challenge
Picture a couple, if you will, at a restaurant. They could be sharing a bagel and a cup of coffee at a Panera. Or, perhaps they’re enjoying grilled fish and fresh vegetables at an outdoor patio of a restaurant by the water. What are they doing? Are they gazing longingly into each other’s eyes? Are they toasting some good fortune with a glass of buttery Chardonnay? Are they brain-storming how to buy their dream home over that cup of steaming Java? No! Both are sitting, heads down, staring into — you guessed it — their smart phones.
They have “head-downers syndrome.” We’ve all seen it. The most egregious cases of it involve people walking down city sidewalks, so engrossed in their cell phones, that they actually walk in front of oncoming traffic. Whoops!
Now, no one disputes the value of electronic communications. We can do so much more today than we could in prior years. Our devices can enrich our lives.
What about what we miss? Are we losing touch with what meaning each moment of our life can bring to us? And how would we know?
Here is an idea and a challenge. Pick one of the following time frames:
- Friday, 6 PM to Saturday, 8 AM
- Sunday, 6 AM to Sunday, 5 PM
- Saturday, 6 AM to Saturday, noon
Vow during one of these time frames to refuse to do the following:
- check e-mail,
- send a text message,
- check, or post anything on Facebook, or
- surf the web
Okay, you can use your phone to make and receive phone calls. After all, many of us have cut the cord and have no landline. Other than that, resist the temptation to use your smartphone, tablet, or computer to do anything else.
Afterwords, write a short paragraph about how it felt, what you did, and what you noticed about the experience. Feel free to post the paragraph on your blog, your Facebook page or better yet, my Facebook page! And, send your paragraph to me (e-mailing from your smartphone is fine – – LOL) as well.