The Curse of the Cell Phone (Part 1)

When I was in early elementary school, technology – especially the cell phone – was making its mark. Sprint was the big provider and Motorola was the big phone company. Samsung and Apple hadn’t even gotten into the cell phone arena. (Side note: Apple wasn’t even invented then.)

My dad, uncle, and grandpa worked together doing construction/carpentry work. Because of this, they all had cell phones. I vividly remember when they got phones from Nextel, a company you may never have heard of, with what was called, “Direct Connect”. This feature was new then, but it seems that now we use every function of our phones to be in direct connection with whomever we’d like.

With this new development my dad and grandpa noticed a downside. Whenever there was a problem, they would call each other and talk about it. It would turn into a long conversation leaving both of them upset. They dubbed this, “The curse of the cell phone.”

It may sound silly, but this is a true assessment. We take every opportunity we get to tell everyone how hard something is or how bad we have it. This age of constant connection has made us people who only know how to share the bad and neglect the good.

Let me encourage you to make sure you are not implementing “the curse of the cell phone” in your life. Be someone who encourages others and not discourages them.

-S.G.