Plugged In

The world is an amazing place. There is not much that we don’t know almost immediately, whether we want to know it or not. Most of us are plugged into every possible form of communication device. We see video relays of everything, cute cuddly animals and horrible “caught on camera” moments that we wish we had not seen, as well as family and friend’s special moments. All you have to do is punch a request into Goggle and you have unlimited access to endless information.

This morning when I decided to write I grabbed my notebook computer. I stacked on top of the computer my IPad and then on top of that my IPhone…I don’t want to miss anything! The problem with this is that I have lost my ability to center myself. Rather than taking time for quiet reflection and calm in the mornings like I use to do, I grab my phone and my IPad and troll through everyone else’s business and lose touch with me. This amazing world of information at the ready is taking my focus from who I am and who I want to be and turning it towards other people, places and things. 

Being plugged in is great but somehow it feels a little like we are losing our humanity. We no longer call people we text them. It is quick, easy and involves less time. The downside is less true connection. We hide behind our technology. We also say things in our tweeting and texting and Facebook posts that people misunderstand or read wrong and we have no way of taking them back. The world is an amazing place but is it costing us our ability to be relational beings?

Somehow I hope to disconnect a little. It is not going to be easy, I have tried before. I start out pretty well and then slowly fall back into my past habits. There has to be a balance of enjoying the gift of technology and not falling down the rabbit whole of our WIFI world. You know what, maybe I’ll Goggle it!