I seem to have trouble keeping a cell phone intact and in one piece.
A little more than a year ago, I dropped my phone in a parking lot. The case flipped open as it fell and cell phone met pavement. Pavement won.
More recently I drove my cell phone off my car. Hands full, I set it down on the hood of the car to hold some papers in place and then simply forgot about it, until I drove away. Cell phone met pavement. And pavement won, again!
All of which got me wondering if my cell phone mishaps were a sign it was time to take a 鈥渢echnology sabbatical鈥�. So I thought seriously about giving up cell phones and going without one.
When I realized the cost of replacing a second cell phone in a year I thought even more seriously about it. But how does one even do that, go without a cell phone, in this day and age? Remembering that there are no pay phones if you have problems on the road; that all those paper maps I wore out and threw away are now contained in one small 鈥渁pp鈥�; and that I no longer own a 鈥渞egular鈥� camera; I relented, paid the price and got another cell phone, this time fortified with every non-shatter accessory available. But as I did, it crossed my mind more than once; when exactly, and how, did having a cell phone become this necessary?
Yuval Noah Harari, in his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, contends we are headed towards a future where technology controls more and more of our lives when he writes, 鈥渁lready today we are becoming tiny chips inside a giant data processing system that nobody really understands.
鈥淓very day I absorb countless data bits through emails, tweets and articles, process the data, and transmit back new bits through more emails, tweets and articles.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really know where I fit into the great scheme of things, or how my bits of data connect with the bits produced by billions of other humans and computers. And I don鈥檛 have time to find out, because I am too busy answering all these emails.鈥�
Growing up, we were led to believe that technology was going to make everything easier thus freeing up time for the important things in life. What I see now however, is that it has had almost the opposite effect.
Although I have another cell phone to support the work I do and the lifestyle I live, I鈥檝e decided this new phone is going to be put in its proper place both literally and figuratively. My family and friends, my faith and community are what define who I am.
So step aside technology, I鈥檓 signing up for 鈥渦nlimited access鈥� to the important things; the things that bring meaning to life.
