As those who are my friend on social media might have noticed, I have recently gone back to having a smartphone. Almost a year ago I got rid of it. Not because it cost too much money, but because it was too expensive in time and relationships. I had spent several Lents on a flip phone and the freedom was quite intoxicating. No longer worrying about emails or texts till I got home. Being disconnected from all the information flowing in made it so that I could carry on conversations on topics I hadn’t heard of yet. I could be present in a way that I wasn’t being with a smartphone on my side. So what did I learn and why did I go back to a smartphone?
- The world has changed.
When I got my first cell phone it was more of an emergency thing. You didn’t need it, in fact, most people didn’t have one. It wasn’t a mobile computer with 24/7 internet connectivity. It was a phone. You called on it, you texted sometimes, and that was it. Today, though, we have one of the most powerful computers right at our fingertips. While it is a phone, most of the time it isn’t being used for phone calls. Gathering information, instant communication, and I would dare so most of the human interaction we receive during the day is through that device. I didn’t realize how much it had changed until I went to a UHAUL center to rent a van and the lady had to actually walk me out to the van to do the inspection. They don’t do that anymore. The company texts you a video that shows you the van and you go do a walk around and inspect it based on that yourself. Then she had to manually write down a phone number for me to call if there was any problem with the vehicle on the road because you do that through an app now.
I cannot tell you how many times in the past year I’ve had to call my wife and ask her to check the bank, give me directions, or check Mass times because my phone wouldn’t do it for me. These were all things I would have checked before leaving the house in the past. Now, I just click a few times on a screen and it directly engages me with the information I need. I am sure it annoyed her and being the person I am, I probably called for things others wouldn’t have bothered with. (I check the bank every time I enter the store, just as I used to open my wallet to make sure I had money before everything went to plastic charge cards.)
Probably the strangest thing is the fact that we have become so dependent on Google Maps. I worked on the road for years. Planning out the trip beforehand, learning the layout of a town, and reading a map to find out where I was and where I needed to be; were all part of the job. I wasn’t an expert at it, but I was good enough that I didn’t get lost often. I’ve found now that because of the phone it takes me longer to learn where I am going, and sometimes I don’t even pay attention to the signs on the road… I just listen for that robotic lady to say “turn left ahead” or “take exit 29B in 2 miles.” Finding my way through an unfamiliar place without that connection was honestly making me very anxious. I haven’t even used google maps on my new phone… but it’s there if I need it. I find comfort in that.
2. Connections aren’t a part of modern culture.
Part of why I got rid of the phone was the idea that if I didn’t have it, I’d be able to meet people, speak to them, and not have my face locked onto a screen in public. For the most part, I instead found myself being the only person in a doctors office not doing that. People don’t just talk to strangers now. Sure, I did have a few conversations with strangers. Even a few times I got a chance to evangelize that I didn’t have before. Instead though, most of the time I sat and watched the world absorb itself into a digital matrix of its own making.
Simply, the digital age has changed how we relate. People will talk freely, often without manners, to someone they don’t even know online… but in public? Few people even make eye contact. They don’t speak to strangers. Someone even joked with a meme that when they saw someone sitting in a coffee shop without a phone, well that must be a serial killer or a psychopath. We make real friendships online and then venture into the physical realm once we are comfortable with that person. Online dating, friendships, even finding a roommate for your apartment are now the norm, not the oddity.
3. A phone is a tool.
I think the most important thing I learned though was this: a digital computing device is simply a tool. It’s up to me to monitor my time, to keep myself from wasting it and avoiding contact by keeping myself absorbed. It wasn’t the phone that was the problem. All of the things I did on the phone I either replaced with a book, a magazine in a doctors office, or my laptop when I got home later. All I really did by getting rid of it was to make things less convenient for me. As someone heavily involved in website work at the church and digital communications for our Parish, it became increasingly hard to keep things moving.
4. Family
Distance is a big thing these days. In a world where we often move away, the family gets further and further apart. My parents and brothers live about 600 miles away. I have not been able to physically see them in around 10 years. Getting rid of the smartphone actually felt like a period of mourning. While I could still call them or text, I could no longer see the updates… the pictures. I know it was the same for some of them as well. Instant communication allows us to live further away (some even in other countries) and still be able to spend time/talk to those we love.
Now all of the things above could be seen as negatives, but some of them are positive. Some bemoan the loss of interaction in public, others are happy with the way things are. Some would say being connected to information all the time is too much, others think we live in a world of unprecedented knowledge and connection. I think the truth is in the middle.
So what do I take away from these four things? That it’s up to me to be the change I want to see in the world. That I can carry a device and not be attached to it. That minimalism is not necessarily getting rid of everything for the sake of minimalism, but rather making sure that the things in my life are used in a way that will bring me closer to who I want to be, who I was created to be. I probably won’t be going to a “dumb phone” again for a while, if ever. What I will be doing is consistently asking myself: “Am I using this to grow closer to God? To my family? To make the world a better place.”