A couple of months ago, my wife and I went to a friends wedding and we tried a social experiment - we both left our phones at home. No checking on the cricket score whilst they were signing the register. No checking on Facebook whilst we were waiting for the bride to arrive. No checking out work emails (despite it being the weekend and knowing no one usually sends emails over the weekend, I always seem to check my work emails on the weekend if I have my phone on me. Daft I know...and I guess no-one else does it...)
Ya know what? We were both different. Both more relaxed. Both less agitated. Both enjoying each other's - and our friends - company.
The memory came back to me this evening as I was sat in a local church in the south of Hungary listening to a organ recital. This after spending the day biking, canoeing, eating pizza and playing cards...with the occasional check on the phone for emails using the free wifi when I had access to it. But only brief, as I've come to the realisation that more often than not, my mobile phone shapes my life. I'm a mobile phone addict - I've finally admitted it to the world! And as a result, I'm often distracted from the real world going on around me.
So please, I beg you - if you ever see me on my mobile phone whilst I'm in your presence, you have my permission to take it off me and throw it in the nearest lake. Cos I'm determined to start living more and more in the real world around me rather than the world of Facebook through my mobile phone.
God bless
Jon Buckley
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