Neither Here, Nor There.
Sunday night, as last weekend came to a close, I was staring at my phone.
That’s not especially unusual. I spend a fair amount of time looking at my phone. It is the fulcrum of much of what I do during the day.
Support for socialjukebox.com, is largely done via my phone.
Chatting with my kids, via my phone.
Making dinner plans, via my phone.
Researching next trip, via my phone.
Went for a run: music provided and stats recorded, via my phone.
It’s very handy, my phone.
But therein lies a problem. By virtue of it’s utility, my phone has snuck into larger and larger pieces of my time. It’s become a sort of lifestyle kudzu.
Anyhow, last night, I was just goofing around on my phone. It doesn’t sound especially insidious. And nothing truly bad happened. But nothing very good happened either.
With increasing frequency, I find myself goofing around with my phone, in a sort of limbo land. Meanwhile, I am neither here, nor there.
Neither here, not there: an expression which is defined as - “of no importance or relevance.”
That sounds about right. A bunch of irrelevant time spent doing nothing important or meaningful, via my phone.
My weekend was spent in that benign limbo, fiddling endlessly but going nowhere. My time and ideas sifting away through the phone in my hands.
Today, my phone is turned off. I’m not going to make a broad proclamation that it’s staying like that. But I am going to revert to either sitting at a workstation performing a specific task, or being disconnected.
My phone is going to be only for the times when the workstation isn’t available.
Tools, like a phone, are useful when they are used for the intended purpose. But when the tool becomes a part of everything, when it’s the conduit of all interaction, we become disconnected from our family, friends and surroundings.
My phone is great, but my family and friends and are better.
For me, no more limbo, I’d rather be either here or there.
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ps - this was previously published on Medium.
Encouragement to effect change and pursue life boldly with faith, urgency & intention.
5 年Wildly valid points. I walk looking around and people’s heads are down into their phones. I am guilty of the same. I am going to recreate boundaries for my phone. Thank you for reminder!
San Diego REALTOR? Real Estate Agent at Big Block Realty Inc.
7 年Thanks for sharing this, Tim. It definitely resonated with me. There's a great book called The Accidental Universe. One of the chapters in the end is titled The Disembodied Universe. Might be an interesting read for you. Cheers!
Sustainable Corporate Travel and Transportation Consulting, New Business Development
7 年I "solved" the problem by having my phone with me in only two places. On my desk (pretending to be charging) and in the car. The car thing is for security. It works pretty well for me, but actually, annoys some clients and friends. Oh well.
Author. Books /Writing & Editing Visit Author Page
7 年Our new society requires us now to have a phone and it's very imperative in its usefulness, however, sometimes the phone has to be turned off to make time for good family and friends; because there are somethings that the phone will never do, like hold your hands or say I love you!