I was recently walking down the street with a friend, and we both gasped when the girl next to us, walking while texting, dropped her phone onto the pavement. The phone bounced, and came to a flat stop. She gasped. She uttered, “Oh, shit,” (probably thinking of the potential cost of an iPhone repair) then picked up the phone, and we asked if it was ok.
I thought, for a moment, that I had over-reacted to this moment. Until I realized, the girl had dropped her brain.
Not only can we not do two things at once with our phones, but the bigger tragedy is, we’ve lost our memories. We are training ourselves, from birth, to stop using our brains, and then we wonder why we have no recollection of dates, phone numbers, people’s names, and so forth. In fact, I wonder whether handwriting will become obsolete.
I’m watching my parents forget many things, but at least they are old enough where it’s acceptable. I am sad and disappointed at friends who are unable to sit through an entire meal without their phone on the table, and glancing at it periodically. And, sometimes I get mad at myself for spending precious time with friends and needing to take a photo which must IMMEDIATELY go on Facebook, rather than me waiting till later that day when we’ve parted ways. But, of course, I know that unless I tell my brain to remind me at specific time, on a specific day, to post the photo, which would take longer than just posting it right away, I will forget to do it.
I hope for our kids, and for our older selves, we can train ourselves to have “no technology” days every week. No TV, no phones, no iPads, no VCRs, no devices with a remote control…oh gawd, I can’t even remember how many devices there are now that fit under the “technology” category, and see I’ve already left off computers, which means no blogging or social media-ing (OH NO!) Let’s get our brains back!
Put your brain to the test – come to my workshop on June 8th!
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