Are We 'too' Plugged In?
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My feet thwacked the pavement during my morning jog, providing a backbeat to my thoughts. I tapped out a rhythm of to-dos: the weekend plans, a voicemail to answer, emails to return. As I cruised past a playground, I glanced over at a dad pushing his son in a swing, cradling a cell phone to his ear. He anchored his foot close enough to keep the swing going, while stretching his body away to dampen the noise of his son's laughter. Although with his son, he was obviously unavailable.
Later in the weekend, soccer games and another playground. I smiled at a couple sitting together on the bench, thinking about the joy of captured moments in the busyness of family life. When I stepped closer, the picture changed. The man chatted into his phone while the woman checked emails on her Blackberry. Their body language said present, but only in the way two strangers are relating when facing each other on the subway. They were poised to engage, yet the engagements were elsewhere in cyberspace.
Those two images stuck with me that week. I began to notice how much time I spend checking email, voicemails, or talking on my cell phone. In the car, running errands, doing dishes. The cumulative time I spent with my gadgets was shocking. My technology habit was compulsive. Always on, always available. Technology in my life was a constant on my to-do list, whether catching up on news, reading a blog, or checking up on distant friends. I wondered how in control I was over this "convenience" in my life.
That very week, I inadvertently left my phone ringer on twice during my counseling hours. A cheery ring tone announcing a new text message—three times—interrupted the gift of undivided attention in another's struggling life. My clients graciously understood, but the moments were lost. The sanctuary of presence disappeared in the reality of my over-available and under-intimate life.
I began to wonder what Jesus would think about my love affair with technology. Jesus' very presence revealed his full engagement with the moment. His ministry required a fervent desire to be with others, in their joy and struggles through life. I don't think Jesus would be emailing his disciples in the mission field when he had time alone with Peter, James, and John, his closest friends.
That's when I noticed what this little habit was doing for me. My technology addiction provided a soothing escape from boredom, irritations, or deep dissatisfactions with life's ho-hum moments. But it also stole potential moments of spontaneous affection or heart-to-heart connections.
How can I do the work of Jesus, whether a healing word, a thoughtful touch, or practical needs, when my constant availability creates a barrier with those closest to me? To live a life that shows "love for my neighbor" cannot be done if I subtly convey that my relationships elsewhere are always more important.
Related Topics:
Availability, Computers, Connection, Relationships
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pastor Azmat Masih
Praise The Lord.This is very Great.God bless you.Pastor Azmat from Pakistan.
Sheri
This article really resonated. I see so many people who don't know how to form relationships w/o the aid of technology. We are losing the ability to be where we are, be with the one we are with. I am unwilling to join social networking sites because for me, they would simply further this addiction to technology until I was spending all my time with my 300 "friends" on Facebook or whatever the site and would have no time left to connect with my husband, family or real friends, esp. the ones who are close by. I do have long distance friendships that are important and technology helps me keep in touch over the 1,000's of miles that separate me from those friends and family. However, we are actually isolating ourselves more and more through social networking in that we are losing our ability to understand and know what true intimacy is. Jesus spent almost all his time with 12 disciples, and even more with only three.He wouldn't have had time for Facebook if he was here today.
Amethyst
too true and a lesson to us all!
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