Table Texting

We will turn around and go back to the house to get it…..we are lost, naked, and insecure without it….it must always be near our hand, within our hearing, and it must be attached to us when we leave the house. It’s our cell phone.

7/5. Fox News: Families have a hard time getting kids to enjoy dinner time without the need to have cell phone at hand and text at the table. An online article, Fox website, this same date, reads : Tech Companies Address Dangers of Texting While Walking. Experts say pedestrians are also suffering the consequences of mobile distraction. They're tripping on curbs, walking into traffic, even stepping into manholes as they chat or type while walking. So, to assist these stumbling, bumbling texters (my term)…they have tools, including earpieces, that allow the user to talk their message. The article includes a finding by a Stanford University communications professor who states that the fundamental problem is...our brains can’t concentrate on so many things at once. I knew that. I’ve known that a long time. It’s hard for many of us to chew gum and walk at the same time, much less type a message on a screen barely larger than a club cracker.

Here’s the issue. We are becoming dysfunctional people. Our need for social communication is being satisfied with facebook, texting, and email. While these methods are not bad, in fact, they are incredible…they can become addictive… replacing family, God, and close friends. How is this happening? Let’s go back to the professor who said: “Our brains can’t concentrate on so many things at once.” So…if you text while driving, you can veer off the road. If you text while walking, you can trip and fall. If you text while enjoying dinner with your family, you will not focus on them. If you prefer human contact via facebook, email, texting…to spending time with God, you will have little focus on spiritual matters. Spiritually speaking, you will veer off the road or you may trip and fall.

Because our brain can’t concentrate on many things at once, perhaps we should bring our tech toys into perspective. Ask yourself why social tech communication takes priority over God, family and close friends? Could it be that it takes less effort? Could it be an addiction? Could it be nothing more than a mental distraction which has the ability to rob us of valuable communication with God and family? Mobile distraction? Could be. Oh yes, watch out for manholes.