Life before the smart phone (and texting) for me:
- woke up without looking at my phone or even my laptop
- walked to class not thinking about social media, but meditated on scripture, prayed, stressed over classes too
- more disciplined times in the Word in the morning and prayer
- if I had to contact someone, since I didn't have texts, I'd either call or wait till I had computer access at the library or at the apartment
- people in general were better with thorough emails (even though it's my form of communication, I'm getting worse at it too)
- no distractions when meeting up
- easier to have undivided attention
- more decisiveness on time and location of meet ups
- meditating on scripture or thinking about what I read from a book before sleeping
- what were selfies? (ok i guess I did some sort of it before with a digital camera, but posting them?)
- didn't play video games
Life with the smart phone for me:
- wake up checking email, instagram
- text people, pray less
- read only at night when I'm tired
- uncertain how to connect with people
- distracted from meet ups when texts or emails come in
- easier to have divided attention
- last minute meet ups or changes
- useless knowledge last on my mind before sleeping.
- I've seen someone brushing their teeth and using the phone when we used to do those mundane activities and actually used our minds to think
- I'm fed by so many opinions
- selfies taken and posted
- iPhone games
- only a few can handle my long texts, but emails or face-to-face meetups were less frequent.
Some positives with smart phones though: maps, yelp, last minute info needed, Christian resources, it can be fun to use.
Still thinking more about it... I know people have written tons of articles on smart phones or Internet use, but in the end it's how we use it and our hearts that need to be addressed.
Something I had posted, but deleted. Here it is again.
What has the internet done?
I can get irritated if someone says they are busy to talk, having known they spent hours on the Internet. I remember thinking in college, if my grades suffer in school, it really isn't the time from ministry or meeting with people that needed to cut down, but my idleness or wasted time on the Internet.
You can say I'm complaining, you can say I'm irrational, you can say I'm harsh.
And in the end... it is true. Before I can get bitter towards people, I have to see myself before God. Before God, I am that person who says I'm too busy to spend time with the Lord because I am the one who spends too much time idled, wasting time on the Internet, even talking to people versus talking to Him. It is I who is the neglectful one. It isn't a matter of what the Internet has done, but where our hearts has gone to. The Internet will be there, people will be there, entertainment will be there in all shapes and forms. All things are lawful, but are all things profitable?
Will it be this smart phone that brings information around the world or this His Word where God speaks to us that will dictate how we think, entertain ourselves, love, live, know personally?
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
