Technology is taking over our lives. It has taken over. “You can’t talk,” You’ll say, “You’re sitting at a computer typing right now!” Ok, yea, I admit it. So let’s move past that and think about this.

Smart phones. For a long time I avoided getting one because I hated what they were doing to the people around me. Why do we think we need to be plugged in to the internet 24/7 ? Why do we think we must have access to facebook, apps, games, and all these forms of electronic entertainment and information all the time? People have survived just fine for years without it and you know why? Because people were independent, they were smart, they had common sense. Don’t know the definition of a word? Go to the library, look it up in a dictionary. Don’t know where the nearest place to get something to eat is? Ask someone for directions. Riding a bus and bored? Take a book to read! Enjoy the scenery outside of the window! Start a conversation with a stranger and learn something about someone new!

But no, people are buried in their phones 24/7. And it’s not just teenagers. My aunt who I love dearly comes over for coffee with my mother. And what does she do? She sits and plays on her smartphone the entire time. She can’t put it away and just enjoy visiting and drinking coffee. She has to play on facebook and talk about what she’s seeing on that damned little glowing screen.

I fell into the trap. I broke down and got a droid. Man, I hadn’t realized what I was missing. I had the world at my fingertips. I swore I wouldn’t let it take over my life. I would just use it for texting and talking, and maybe the occasional game. Well, that didn’t last. Within weeks I found myself just like everyone else, buried in the phone. I justified it to myself. I played games in the car instead of talking to my family. I would lie in bed at night with my husband while he slept, playing on my phone because I told myself it helped me get tired and fall asleep. Ahem, that wasn’t true.

It wasn’t until the phone died that I finally felt free. At first there was panic. I was honestly upset. But eventually I got over it and my head felt clear. I know it sounds stupid, but I felt like I was a part of the world again. I’m using my mom’s old flip phone now and it does what I need- calls and texts. I still miss my droid sometimes and I long to play the games… but I don’t NEED them.

So think about it. Put away the smart phone for a day. Live without constant access to the internet. Can you do it, even for one day?