Monday, November 08, 2010

Too dependant on our mobile phone?

I really love receiving txts and phone calls. When my phone bleeps its a sign of someone wanting to speak to me. But I wonder whether we are too dependant on our phones and do they take the place of real community and real friendship?

Recently I read an interesting post about mobile phones at Challies Dot Com. 

He wrote - "Do you see what the phone does? There’s a great irony buried within it. The cell phone, a device meant to enhance my communication with others, can increase my ability to communicate with those who are far from me, but this often comes at the cost of communication with my own wife and children—those closest to me."

And then

"The fact is, many of us buy phones in order to remain connected to the people we love. Do you remember the commercials that sold us on having unlimited calling to five friends or family members? This phone was going to let us be closer to those we want to be closest to. This is a noble thing. And yet in the end the phone demands our attention even (and perhaps especially) while we are near those people. While I sit beside my wife, my phone calls me to respond to an email from a client a thousand miles away. While I go for a walk with my son, the phone calls me to response to a text message from a friend across town."

Solution?

"The only solution I know of is to be very disciplined in our use of such technology, to be willing to carve times in which the phone is set aside so we can focus on what truly matters most. The phone isn’t going anywhere, and at least for now, it is not going to give up the ideologies that are buried deep within it."

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