Lynn Olberding
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“Hello my name is Lynn and I am a Smartphone-a-holic” |
It’s nothing new. I’m not the first. But, I whole-heartedly admit, I am addicted to my Smartphone. It’s pretty and green and keeps me connected to the world. I get text messages, email and can connect to the Internet at any given moment. What could possibly be wrong with that?! I think I first realized I had a serious problem when I left work one fateful night in December. I turned off my computer, shut off my light, got in my car to take the 5-minute commute home (yes, I hit a red light, otherwise it would have been a 3-minute commute), walked in the house and checked my phone to see if I had any email messages. Now in all honesty, what could have possibly happened in those 5 minutes since I shut down Outlook at the office? I did have a message however…from a popular women’s clothing store, telling me about a great offer they were having that weekend. And then another one came in from a magazine I subscribe to…and another and another. I thought to myself, “I should have stayed at work! Look at all of this important stuff that has happened.”
Then a little voice inside of me said, “Lynn, put the phone down. And step away.” I’ll admit, it was hard. I set the phone on the counter and walked away.
Now I haven’t worked my way through the twelve steps process. I’ve admitted I have a problem, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. I’m not sure I’m ready to give up on my addiction. In fact just last weekend, a friend sent me an email on Sunday, testing to see if I would reply. And I did. Pretty much immediately.
Smartphones are just another tool we have available to us today, meant to make our lives easier. And they do. There have been a number of times I’m thankful that I have access to my email right at my fingertips. Or the countless times I’ve used my phone to Google something incredibly important while having a conversation with a friend (don’t you hate when you can’t think of the name of a song you just heard?!)
What I have learned about the wonders of Smartphones is that sometimes, you just have to turn them off. Easy to say, hard to do. |
Mar 2, 2009 11:27 AM
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