They Are Only Tools

Have you ever been with someone who is present, but not engaged? What was the reason?

If I had to guess, it was probably their phone. Guilty as charged.

When you think of the evolution of the smartphone, it has effected every relationship to some degree for the good and at times, for the bad. I’ve been able to keep in touch with people around the world thanks to social media, email, and blogs. But for the worse, attention that was once given to a child, now is now taken by a screen, squashing the parent/child relationship.

So how do we ensure that the phones in our hands, our pockets, on our hips, remain as tools? We don’t owe our phones anything. Or anything on our phones. Tools are meant to be put down. Used when needed. Would you grab a screwdriver from your drawer and just carry it around? If I saw someone walking down the road with one, my antennas might go up! Why don’t we see our phones as the same?

Because it’s hard to put down what we rely on. It’s hard to use something responsibly than to not use it at all, isn’t it?

So where’s the balance?

Long gone are home phones. Communication is often through texting and emails. All things that are practical, useful, and wonderful! But what’s beyond these uses? A virtual world that sucks us in, whose goal is to get us to fulfill our needs through addiction to it.

We are relying on our phones to fulfill our needs. But NOTHING in this world, not even a phone, can replace what’s outside of it – our experience in the world God has created. With the people He has given us face-to-face. We are missing the grandness, the goodness, and the greatness of God because our eyes are on a screen. And then we wonder why we don’t feel connected to God? And even to others?

I write this to myself. When you look at your phone, do you just see it as a tool? Or as something that is controlling you?