Back in my day, when you had to walk five miles through ten feet of snow uphill both ways to get to school, we didn’t have this fancy thing. What are they called again? A futuristic talking device that fits in my pocket? No, we had to do it the old fashioned way, either with two cans and a very long string, or via carrier pigeon.
Jokes aside (I’m in my twenties), I hate cellphones. I know of their utmost necessity in our modern world (heck, I have two of them because my job requires me to have a work phone). Still I loathe them. And I believe that if we, as Christians, are to use our cell phone wisely we have to recognize where, in many cases, they can be a source of evil.
Mobile Games
Let’s start off with something a little more lighthearted. Something that’s not necessarily evil, but still drives me bonkers. Mobile games suck. It’s not necessarily that they aren’t fun (some of them are tons of fun), they are just terrible for the video game industry. Nintendo’s most profitable game is currently Fire Emblem Heroes, a mobile game. Like essentially all mobile games before it, it uses addictive gameplay, micro-transactions, and that stupid mechanic of only being allowed to play for a certain amount of time before you have to use different resources (usually gold received via real money) to continue.
The problem with this is that, as the most recent announcement for Diablo (a mobile game) shows us, video game companies are noticing that these games are much more profitable than others. Therefore, we, over time, lose the art of a new video game. Supporting these sorry excuses for games takes focus off of the games that truly show how much the developers care about the finished product that they’re making.
Further, due to their addictive nature and they’re ability to be in your pocket to be played at any time, they suck the life right out of you. You could be sitting on the couch with friends and be fiddling with a mobile game on your phone for the 5 minutes that you’re waiting for the next thing to happen. People can be neglected. Life can pass you by. Of course, that critique doesn’t just apply to mobile games.
Anti-Social Behavior
This, perhaps, isn’t news to anyone. It’s not just an axiom that cellphones make you anti-social. There have also been several studies, such as one reported on by TIME magazine which noted, “Researchers from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business found that after a short period of cell phone use, people were less likely to partake in ‘prosocial’ behavior”. A nice article on the subject can be found here.
But I’m far from a scientist. All the experiential data that I have says that cell phones, because they’re always there, because you have the internet in your pocket, they create distance between people. I have many times been at fault in this category. And I’m sure that most people reading this have felt the same way. Speaking of the internet.
Having the Internet in Your Pocket is Dangerous
My attention span and I have a weird relationship. I can focus on anything that I find relatively interesting for quite awhile. But I can’t sit there and do nothing. If something isn’t taking the majority of my brain, I’ll occupy it with something else. That’s where having the internet in your pocket comes in.
I’ll be sitting at a red light and I’ll want to open up the internet to just browse whatever. I’ll be sitting on the couch waiting for the food in the oven to be done and I’ll want to open up the internet. I’ll be in-between Smash Bros games (which accounts for like, 45 seconds at most) and I’ll want to open up the internet. It likely does serious damage to my attention span and doesn’t promote good habits.
And it’s more than just the simple risk of losing your entire evening through browsing Wikipedia or other silly articles. I’m sure many of the people reading this are reading it on their phone and that’s not a bad thing if done responsibly. Really the worst part of having the internet in your pocket is that there are so many things on it that are sinful. In my opinion, having that sort of temptation in your pocket is one of the hardest things that Christians face.
So What Do We Do?
Honestly, I think cellphones are addictions. Some may struggle with that more than others, but I think it’s a genuine problem. Unfortunately, we really need cellphones in this modern world, so it’s often not as simple as getting rid of your cellphone. Allow me to offer a couple steps that we could take.
Downgrade to a Dumb-Phone
Sometimes when something has a huge negative effect on you, like cellphones can do, it’s best to just leave it behind. Get a dumb phone that can do the whole talk and text thing, but not much else. I’ve been down this path and I tell you, it’s very freeing. You’d really be surprised how much you can focus on the people in your life when you stop having all the distractions or temptations. One might say that this is throwing out the baby with the bath water, but I like to look at it more as gouging out your eye if it causes you to sin (see Matthew 5:29)
Get Rid of Your Internet Browser
This is where I’m currently at with my phone. Getting rid of the ability to just fiddle on it really helps me focus. Plus, you find that most of what you use the internet for that’s healthy can be accomplished by sitting down in front of your computer. It requires you to be more intentional about how you spend your time.
Download an App to Limit Cellphone Use
There are so many apps that deal with cellphone addiction. With one of these apps, such as offtime, helps you keep the screen time in check without getting rid potential good elements of your cellphone. While this is a lighter step, I highly recommend this over doing nothing or trying to manage your screen time on your own.
Get Rid of Your Mobile Games
Please do this. Please. Spend the time that you would be spending on a mobile game doing something else, maybe even just playing a better regular game. I know that this may seem hard for those who have hundreds of hours invested into your games, but please, there are just so many better things to be doing.
Conclusion
Jokes or exaggerations aside, this is actually something that I feel pretty strongly about, just because I know that it’s been a problem in my life for so long. Even to this day I still need checks to make sure that I spend less time on my phone. I don’t mean to sound like the crotchety old man who wants things to go back to the good old days (unless you count when I tried to do just that at the beginning of this post), but I don’t want the good things to pass us by.
Spidey's Soapbox 