Get Off the Phone!

I was reading an article this morning about the proposed federally imposed state laws on phone use while driving.  This is something I don’t do, but it is a choice made because I know my cognitive limits, it is not because I am a virtuous person in the phone regard.    The article intended to make me pick a side, but my brain first started to think about what to make for lunch, followed right away by thoughts about “Where did I put my phone?”  Seriously.  Somebody call me.  I can’t find it.

So, I go to make lunch.  Found my phone and immediately checked it for missed calls and text messages.  I did not miss anything.  Even though I had just seconds before been sitting at a laptop, I go ahead and check my e-mail on my cell phone.  What if somebody e-mailed me in the thirty seconds since I shut the laptop?

The question about lunch settled, I start to feel rather proud of my super healthful choice and decide that it must be announced on Facebook.  Witty anecdote regarding my unusually healthful choice decided upon, I post the update using my phone.   Feeling certain that this update will strike a chord, I keep my phone in my hand to wait for the notifications to roll in.

I call the kids in for lunch.  Where have they been?  What have they been doing this whole Saturday morning? are the questions I should be asking them, but I am on the phone with a friendly acquaintance.  She’s not a dear friend who means more to me than my own children, but evidently she’s more interesting.

Lunch is over and I shoo the kids outside to return to whatever activity they were engaged in before.  What was that?  I wash the dishes and return to my laptop where the news article about phone use while driving is still up.

It occurs to me that I do not have a problem with using the phone while driving.  I am a much worse case.  I have a problem with using the phone while LIVING.

Hello, 2012.  I think we hit on a resolution.