This is something I was pondering today as I noticed every single person around me at the club looking at their smart phones. I then thought about how many times I pull it out when I have a few minutes with nothing going on.  From there, I started making a conscious decision to recognize every time I was using the phone and why.

Then it dawned on me. Are we afraid of our own thoughts? What explains the addiction to constantly check email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.?

The truth is that for me, I certainly have been using my phone way too much. Often I wouldn’t even make it through a movie without checking it. The important revelation for me was that it is easier to play with the phone than to force yourself to deal with silence and pay attention to what you are thinking.

Times have changed. What we have to be aware of is that our kids are watching every move we make. We need to set good examples for them. We need to start putting the phone down when we are together, and for me, I plan to start putting it in the other room so I am not tempted.

Smart phones are great as long as they do not make us dumb in our relationships with others. We need to take time to be fully engaged in conversations with others and set aside some downtime from the phones every day.

The next time you feel the urge to check your phone for no apparent reason, ask yourself, “Am I afraid of my thinking?” Then take the next steps to change it next time.

With gratitude,
Bill