ATTACHED TECHNOLOGY 

     The other day I was leaving to make a run into town. When I was at the end of the driveway I realized I had forgotten my phone, so I pulled back to the garage, and went in and got the thing. As I was driving away from the house I thought, “What is going on here?” Several times I’ve driven half way across these United States without a phone, without an instant connection to other people, or emergency services.

     And my experience isn’t unique. Why can’t I now go to the grocery store without a phone? The big answer is because the technology is available. You know, if it’s here we use it to our advantage. The small, personal answer is that at the grocery store I’m working off Lorraine’s list, and I need to call her in every other aisle to make sure I’m selecting the right thing. Or if I see something on sale that’s not on the list I can call an asked if we already have enough of this product. The phone saves me time and additional trips to adjust to mistakes. And this is the same thing that every cell phone carrying person is doing all over the world.

     Except for anyone under the age of 22. I’ve picked that age at random but would wager I’m close. Under that age most kids are in school of some kind, and over that age they are trying to earn a living and don’t have as much time for what I’m talking about. (Although most working people use cell phones and other electronic devices to their advantage.)

I’m talking about texting and entertainment. All kids over the age of seven years old seem to carry a smart phone. They can’t take two steps, watch TV, or carry on a conversation without checking their phone, answering a text, or starting a texting conversation. There is a whole vocabulary being developed because these young people can’t take the time to spell out long words. Or maybe they can’t actually spell the long words because they were busy texting during spelling class.

Walk down the aisle of any church and you will see people working their smart phones. You don’t know if they’re looking up the last text the preacher threw out, checking or answering their mail, checking the ball game, or watching porn.  

     When I talk about what I witness in the youth of today I’m talking about the kids I’ve seen in the United States. What kids in the rest of the world are doing I’ve no idea, but I would guess it’s not much different.

     Back to my cell phone. It is not a smart phone. In fact it is intellectually challenged. It doesn’t know where it is, where it’s going, or where it’s been. It bothers me to think a phone could be smarter than me. I know some folks who are lucky to have things around them that are smarter than they are---blenders come to mind.

My phone doesn’t have a keyboard so if I want to text and I need an "s" for instance I have to hit the 7 key four times. Texting is slow enough to discourage its use. My phone doesn’t have any apps and it doesn’t have any games. Could it acquire some apps? Maybe, I don’t even know. And the reason is that I don’t care if it does or doesn’t. So far my life doesn’t need that much additional stimulation.

     Cell phone technology is great and I’m glad it’s here. Soon land-lines will be history. In many places in the world land-line infrastructure has just been bypassed altogether. People went from smoke signals right to cell phones.

     So, every morning when getting dressed, I slip my cell phone into a pocket and there it stays until I put it on my nightstand before climbing into bed. I don’t live without the thing. Sad but true. It’s not that I couldn’t live without it, but why should I when it’s there. I guess that sums up most of modern technology, from laparoscopic surgery to microwave ovens.