The Lutheran Vegan

Yesterday, I was talking with a young man who is also going through some hellish times with cancer. Garrett was, as you would expect, looking down at his phone to see if something – anything – was coming through to him that was interesting. 

“You know, if you put that thing away for a few minutes, you’re not going to miss anything.”

A surprised Garrett said, “Oh, I was just checking on messages from my girlfriend.”

With a wily smile on my face, I said. “If you don’t message your girlfriend back right away, she’s going to dump you?” We both laughed. 

He said, “No,” but mentioned that his girlfriend sometimes has Taylor Swift tendencies of clinginess. 

Last week, an essay appeared in the New York Times written by a college professor who explained that she makes her students put away their smartphones. By banning them in class, she found something blessed – students took time to learn. 

As Dr Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a physician and a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote:

I banned all cellphones and computer-based note taking in the classroom, with the exception that students could use a device if they wrote with a stylus. Initially, my students were skeptical, if not totally opposed. But after a couple of weeks, they recognized they were better off for it — better able to absorb and retain information, and better able to enjoy their time in class.

Granted, I am one of those people tied to his smartphone and tablet. Both are with me all of the time. In my life as a Lutheran Pastor, I find myself too connected with electronics. My eyes are always on my iPhone, checking for messages and breaking news. 

For a while, I had an “addiction” to X (Twitter). It would be the first thing I would check after I woke up in the morning. Lying there in bed, eyes still groggy, I would reach over to the charging pad and pull off my iPhone, pick up my reading glasses, and open the X app. At 4 am or so, I scroll through X looking for comments or updates on my favorite sports or political topics. 

One morning, still groggy from a restless night’s sleep, the clock blaring out 4:18 am, I went to grab my iPhone off the charger, and I dropped the phone onto the floor. Worried that I shattered the tough screen, I hopped out of bed to pick up my phone. Nothing happened to it, but I realized I was more worried about that dopey phone and checking on catty comments and posts on X rather than doing what I should be doing at an early time: praying.

That dark morning, sitting on the edge of my bed, I put my phone down on the nightstand, stood up, and realized my life was being taken over by connectivity. We’re all connected and tied into social media platforms, never-ending news, and meaningless messages from friends, family, and people we barely know. We need to truly reflect on whether this is all helping us. 

Asking Google to turn on the bedroom lights, I stood up that day and walked over to my chair. Looking down at the table next to it, I picked up my fully charged iPad, opened the Logos Bible app, and turned to the ESV Bible within. Some weeks later, I don’t remember the passage I read, but I remember praying to our Father in heaven for guidance to remember to love and care for others while setting aside the next crazy message from some dude on X who hates some politician.