Phone Addicts
Submitted by Frank Williams
July 22, 2024
1Jo 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
In these modern days of personal phones, messages, and texts, we all have experienced the rudeness of having a meaningful conversation cut short with the words, “Oh, it’s so and so. I need to take this.” It surely made us realize that we were not the most important person at that moment.
I found an article on the psychological power of our phones interesting. It is about how our relationships are impacted by the influence of our phones.
Imagine you are sitting with someone while holding your phone. It isn’t buzzing or beeping. (Yet!) You are just holding it. But by the association, you are communicating what is the most important to you. Your friend knows it could signal at any moment, and then it becomes the priority.
When you show up for meeting, or sit down for dinner with family, and you put your phone on the table, it sends a message of what is the most important thing to you at that moment. Watch phones are convenient, but when a person’s attention is drawn to it during conversation, you feel less important and ignored.
Here’s a suggestion. When engaged with others, put your phone in airplane mode, or in a bag, or leave it in the car, etc. That will take away the temptation to anticipate something coming in.
This is how we should be interacting with people. Give them our full attention. We should listen, like water dripping on a sponge, rather than it dripping on a brick. People need to know that they are heard.
If you wake up in the morning, and the first thing you do (even before coffee!) is check your phone, perhaps you have a problem. Do you take your phone from room to room? Perhaps you have a problem.
There is a growing body of research by psychiatrists, neuroscientists, marketers, and public health experts. It is showing that smartphones are causing real damage to our minds and relationships, measurable in seconds shaved off the average attention span, reduced brain power, declines in work-life balance, and hours less of family time.
Many are so controlled by their phone, that it has become an idol that takes priority over other relationships. Many can’t even attend church without checking it and using it. If we aren’t already, perhaps we are becoming addicted to our phones. How long can you keep yourself from your phone (idol)?
Ga 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
