The Current Politi-SQUIRREL!!

“Hello iPhone my old friend

I’ve come to touch your screen again

I know I touched it oh so recently

I have to see if someone tweeted me

And if there is a new meme for me to look

There on Facebook

I can’t put down my smartphone”

(My apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)

What is it about our smartphones that has us checking them almost continuously?

Now, before you stop reading, please know that this is not an anti-technology rant. I love my smartphone. I’ve gone from a Palm pilot, to a Tungsten T3 (awesome, by the way), to an iPod, to an iPhone 4, to a Lumia Icon (running Windows), to my current Samsung Galaxy S6 (running Android). And rest assured, I’ve loved using all of them. Most of the podcasts I listen to are tech related. I love this shtuff.

What I’m trying to write my way into understanding is our apparent . . . “fascination” is the wrong word . . . obsession(?) with our smartphones. It’s not uncommon to see a whole group of people gathered together, but not actually BE together - you find them all looking down at their phones.

I’m guilty of this as well. I love spending time with my wife. Actually, I don’t consider it “spending time", rather more like “investing time". Yet, more times than I like to acknowledge, we will be at a restaurant (even for breakfast) and find ourselves pulling our phones out to check email or Twitter.

Why?

I’m not going to focus on the phenomenon that takes place like I described above. What I am going to focus on is the fact that we do it when alone.

And I don’t think the smartphone is the problem.

To quote Pogo (Walt Kelly): “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

As I mentioned above, I listen to podcasts. All the time. Whether music, technology, humor, or political, there is almost a constant stream of “noise" going into my right ear (which is where I wear my Bluetooth earpiece). I jokingly tell people that I listen to podcasts so that those voices entering my head override the voices that are IN my head.

And that, I believe, is the point. We do not like being alone with our thoughts. Ourselves.

Or possibly, we are afraid of silence.

Whether the input is going in our ears or our eyes, we seem afraid of being without a distraction; almost forcing us to be with ourselves.

As I write this I’m realizing I have to admit: I am too.

I’ve found that without the distractions I go on verbal rants. Alone. While driving my Jeep to work or home. And not just rants: angry, loud rants.

And I hate that.

I hate that I do that. Which, maybe, just maybe, is the very reason I NEED to periodically remove the distractions. For without acknowledging what is bothering me, I can never address, and hopefully change, it.

What about you? What happens when you DO experience silence?

I’m not going to challenge you to put aside the distractions for a week or so, so that you can come to a better understanding of yourself. Hell no. I won’t even challenge myself with that. Those AT&T commercials of a family freaking out without the internet are funny and all, but FORGET THAT!!

What I will challenge you with is to try and be more aware of the distractions that fill your time. Just be more aware of them. And maybe, just maybe, you can say, “Hello darkness, my old friend.”

©Emittravel 2016

Down in Front!

Now that I've been attending church again (albeit, not all that frequently), I find I'm amazed at just how distracting people are. The pastor made a comment years ago that when this church started it was the perfect church . . . then the first people walked in (that was a joke - really!) One of the concessions that my wife and I agreed to was that she would attend with me (she was attending a local Catholic church while I was on my sabbatical), as long as I didn't "force" her to sit in the first row.

The first row. The dreaded, mostly empty, first row. A place I've been accustomed to planting my keister for many a year. I have never sat there with an air of "better than thou". I have sat there because I'm so easily distracted. Even back in school I'd sit in the front row. I'm the same with televisions. I actually hate dining in establishments with televisions on. Don't be surprised if I ever ask you to please turn yours off while visiting. I want to give you my undivided attention, and I'm just unable to do that with the damn thing on.

So, I'm accustomed to sitting in the front row. But now, we are in the fifth row from the front, sitting at the end of the row (I've been having a lot of on and off trouble with my knee/leg, and being able to stretch it out helps), and I find people are so annoying.

At this church, the service starts with about 20 minutes or so of (praise and worship) music, followed by a new visitor welcome, a meet and greet, the offering, and then the sermon. As I said, the service STARTS with about 20 minutes or so of music. The service doesn't start with the sermon. Do you hear me people who like to come in three-quarters of the way through the music?!? The music is part of the service. Those songs are not the trailers before the main feature. It's one thing to come in late to a movie and miss a couple of trailers. It is another thing entirely to come in after the main feature has started. I have rarely, if ever, seen anyone come in after the movie has begun. Why? Because nobody would come in late to a movie! So, why do people come in late for a church service?

I've written before about the purpose of the music at the beginning of a service. It is a time to prepare your heart and mind for God - to set aside your burdens and put yourself in a position to truly commune with Him. When people come in late, they disturb those at the end of the aisle - because they want those coveted middle seats - with "Hi!"s and "How are you!"s, taking people out of their spiritual "moment" and forcing them to give THEM attention.

(Being a couple of rows back, and being so easily distracted, I can't help but be pulled out of MY spiritual "moment" either!)

Listen! Why don't you get your ass up out of bed 15 minutes earlier so you get yourself all dolled up and get into your precious seat and not disturb other people who have come to church instead of the local golf course to commune with God. If you can't spare that extra 15 minutes of sleep, don't come in! Go and get your "slam" at the local Denny's instead.

We should get the ushers to close the doors once the service has started, and refuse to let anyone in!


Bruce Campbell, a.k.a. "the man!" in Spider-Man 2

Maybe it's just a part of the nondenominational/charismatic/Protestant mentality. I've never seen anyone ever come in late to a Catholic service. Oh, they've left early all right, just never came in late.

Or maybe if they served popcorn . . .

© Emittravel 2015