The school district I sub at has a hefty percentage of kids that come from low-income families. They still all have phones, which I do not have trouble understanding in high school. But I do not think every kid in junior high should have a cellular device. When I sub in a middle school, I ask them why they think they need to have a phone, when they can't even drive. Usually this inquiry is met with confused looks and comments. "Mister, everyone has a phone." Whenever I come across a kid who has not been spoiled with one, they are usually complaining and whining about it. There is only one reason for this: they just want to fit in. They only want a blackberry or samsung galaxy or iphone simply because all the other kids do. And I think adults are no different.
We only want an iphone because everybody around us has one. We don't want to be the lamo walking around with a flip phone. It's the new cool worldly thing and we just hop right in. "It's 2013 bro. Everyone has a smart phone." Not quite everyone.
I find it sad and amusing to see everyone walking around with cute matching phones and then hear someone say, "I don't know how we lived without them." Really? Only a few short years ago most of us had no trouble functioning without them and a few years before that most people didn't even have a phone. And we made it just fine.
People are like zombies, glued to a 2.5 inch screen. How can a virtual world be better than reality? I mean I clearly use the internet, but generally when I'm around other people I try to stay off of my phone. And you don't need the internet on your phone. Yes it's nice and it's convenient. I think the GPS part is handy, but do we really need a browser? Can't you wait a few hours until you get home to your computer? Is it really that pressing? And how are we okay with letting ourselves be so dependent on a device? Americans are so predictable. We want it and we want it now. I refuse to let the technology age change me anymore than it already has.
As Christians, how can we justify iphones? How can we say we 'need' a smart phone? I think that is ludicrous. There are thousands of children that die everyday in Africa, because they lack simple medications and vaccinations. Is paying for a fancy luxurious phone really more important than the lives of those kids? Are we taking Jesus and His commands seriously? How can this be more than okay? How can this be widely accepted and commonplace? "Ahhhh Mills you are being too hardcore and a bit ridiculous." Am I? Do you think Jesus would admonish, condone or bless our use of excessively expensive communication devices and all the other things that come standard with the typical suburban American middle-class life? Do you think the Son of God would be sporting the latest iphone 5?
I pay $30 a month for Straight Talk service, with 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts. It does everything I need it to do. I can't imagine indulging myself and spending twice that, or even more, every month, just to keep up with the Joneses and fit in. That doesn't even take in consideration the cost of the actual phone itself. I send the money I would have spent on an iphone to Katie in Africa, to support her cause of taking care of starving and sick orphans. I question even having a phone at all. I think it is something I could feasibly get by without. So much logistics are done with email now anyways.
I love traveling abroad, obviously for lots of reasons, but it is so nice to just set my phone down for a couple weeks or months. I cannot wait to turn my phone off for nearly a year and just live life this fall when I'm serving for AmeriCorps.
I'm not trying to attack everyone who is different from me. I just don't think people often have their habits questioned or challenged. The people we are trying to fit in with, likely won't be in our lives in 10-20 years. Our time in this world is fleeting. I think we should use it to wholeheartedly take advantage our resources for His cause instead of our American agenda.
Stress is not trusting God.
-Christina at Vespers 10/23/08
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