Disconnect, unplug, shut it off, put it under you car tire and run over it, give it to your worse enemy…

It’s been growing in me and recently I hit a tipping point – I am going to start aggressively resisting being connected all the time.

I’ve had a mobile phone hanging around my neck since 1995 (25 years) and a computer and emails since the early 80’s (1980’s). Anybody remember the old Apple IIe?

I’m sick of it.

All these virtual relationships means we have virtually no real relationships.

All this technology has saved me so much time that I hardly have time to live.

I’m sick of technology interrupting my prayers, meals, conversation, and sleep.

I’ve grown weary of people telling me who to vote for and what to vote for.

I’m tired of companies and organizations pounding on me with a never-ending stream of emails, ads, texts, and calls telling me what to buy, where go, and what to do. (Oh for the days of junk mail; it least that was only once a day and I could just throw it all away at one time.)

I’m done.

I’ve turned off almost all my notifications. There are a few exceptions…

If my wife and children call, my phone rings, I do allow the weather channel to warn me if a blizzard is coming and the government can still warn me if N. Korea lobs a missile over on us. (That’s important to know; I don’t want to die with underwear that has holes in it.)

But I’ve stopped my news feed on my web browser, I check Facebook only once a day (if that), and I lay my phone down and don’t pick it up until it is time to return calls and make calls. (Afterall, we call it a mobile phone, why do we insist on using it for everything else?)

I’m looking for every opportunity to not be ruled by technology. Enough already!

It’s not that I am advocating being nonprofessional and irresponsible. But the myth of multitasking has been exposed. Our brains need time to “defrag” and process.

We need to think (for ourselves).

We need quiet.

We need to unplug.

Why don’t we start locking up techno voyeurs who spend hours watching others live their lives or better yet, lock up their mobile devices and push them out the door and tell them to live a real life themselves.

Better yet, why don’t we lock up our own mobile devices and get a real life ourselves!

The ONE THING for today: Technology makes a great servant but a terrible master.

“One of the most challenging obstacles to a civilized society today is the use of mobile phones. They are the cigarettes of this generation: they are used by many, often annoying, and will, in time, be known to be hazardous to your health.” _Byron Tully