Unplugged

I had the opportunity last week to be “unplugged.”  Leaving behind my laptop and cellphone made me a little uncomfortable at first, but then an amazing thing happened: freedom!  Whoever needed to contact me - had to wait a week.  Anyone I needed to contact - had to wait a week.  My world did not fall apart.  Amazing. 

It’s an interesting time we live in now with all the various electronics available to us for communication.  Sadly though, it seems we might be losing our ability to truly communicate.  A high school student I was talking with recently told me he has friends that are afraid to talk on the phone with someone they don’t know.  They won’t answer the phone if there is an unknown number and worst of all, if they need to call someone they’ve not previously spoken with - they would rather send a text message. They feel it’s safer and more comfortable to text as they are worried about how they will come across in real life. It reminded me of the little guy hiding behind the big face in Wizard of Oz.

As the conversation with this high schooler turned toward other electronic media, we discussed the merits and drawbacks of watching TV via cable, versus watching shows on Netflix via the internet.  While I find it enjoyable to watch Netflix and not have to sit through commercials, he told me the downside to Netflix is “binge watching,” where kids start a series and don’t stop until it’s over, even if they are up all night.  He said those with cable TV have to wait a week to catch the next episode, but those with access to Netflix watch the entire season in one sitting.  He felt it was feeding too much into the “I want it now” mentality of today’s youth and the long-term affects of that just can’t be good.

What I found funny about last week’s experience was how accustomed we have become to using cell phones.  At the end of a week volunteering with a great group of people in Mexico, a bunch of us were staying Saturday night in the same hotel in San Diego.  I was away from the hotel and needed to get ahold of everyone. My cell phone battery was dead, which meant I had no access to anyone’s phone number, as they were all stored in my phone.  I panicked.  After a few minutes of running through possible scenarios on how to contact just one person in our group, it finally dawned on me I could call the hotel and have them ring their individual rooms.  I had to borrow a phone to do it, but the most traditional solution was the last thing I thought of.  I embarrassed myself that it took me so long to remember hotels have telephones in each room.

As I sat on the plane coming home the next day, everyone around me had some form of electronic device to entertain themselves, including, sadly, myself.  So much for being unplugged.