Out of touch or touched?

I got lost yesterday, thinking about cell phones. Yes, I have one. Yes, I am pretty well addicted to it. Yes, I feel guilty about it. I like to rationalize that I “need” my cell phone. But those others using them inappropriately, in their cars, while pushing shopping carts, standing in lines at banks, at the theater, they don’t. They just don’t. But I do. Those others are just on self serving nuisance calls. I am sure of it. Mine are necessary. And of course, I am wrong. I am just rationalizing.

I need mine to help me keep my plates spinning in the air. The plates full of the delicious and frightful food of my life. Oooops…got to keep the family connected..spread the word, spread the love, smooth the rough edges, point toward forgiveness. “Here are the dates for our next family holiday? You can’t make it? You are mad at whom? Who said what to who?” Don’t let anything slide off… Need them going and going, faster and faster…keep the job duties rolling, stay in touch with employees.. “Did I remember to ask you to call the bank and stop payment on that check? Did I remember to tell you about the shipment that is hung up in Georgia?” And all of this can be done while driving a car, while picking up dry cleaning, while power walking at lunch. Are we efficient, or what? I think the answer is “or what”. Because I feel naked when I get in the car without mine. When I can't chat as I drive through my life, I can feel a panicky sense of "This is not all I do when I drive."

Remember land-lines? They used to be just called phones. Or telephones. That’s what we all had. A phone that was hooked to a wall. At a location. Connected by wire to other phones. And voices traveled those wires. And the real subtle mystery was that we KNEW where the person was when they picked up the phone to answer our call. We knew better than we could with GPS or Google Earth where that person was at the moment they picked up the handset. Then there came call-forwarding, and for the techies who needed that seemingly complicated re-directed pathway, it was freeing. They could be found at another land-line of their choice, on vacation, at home, etc. Soon after that car phones, huge, heavy briefcase-sized contraptions were what those that could afford them used to stay mobile and connected. And we all know the rest..technology has made it affordable for everyone to have a cell phone. Land-lines, at least personal ones, will become a thing of the past. I am sure we will soon have a chip implanted in our ear lobes. With a few tugs or folds or taps, we could dial, and hear and talk, maybe even just think..and it will transmit to the other party. Or to another planet.

It was pointed out to me recently that some people call a cell phone rather than a land-line because they then are nearly guaranteed to talk only to the person they want to, not some other member of the land-line household. This is the most recent evolution of what started with answering machines, voice mail and caller I.D. Talk only to who you want to. So even if we are talking more, we are also hiding more.

And you may have noticed that I have not even mentioned text messaging. Which really I only have a small grasp of. I think of it as compressed IMing, shorthand if you will. That will require it’s own space and thought.

So what about all this. Speaking from the old school, it is just a bit freaky to think that I could dial someone up, have a conversation, and turn a corner and walk right into (or past) the person I am desperately connecting to. Or I could be driving past them. Or into them. In the past, when we were away from our land-lines, we gained a certain amount of peace and tranquility, a chance to listen to ourselves from the inside out, our own thoughts. We could test run these ideas, concepts or thoughts before trotting them out for the masses to enjoy, or to be horrified of. Possibly edit or eliminate something that did not need to be said. That might hurt or scar or ruin someone or something. Never to be taken back, shot out into the world with impunity, it’s energy, good or bad, running rampant.

So I think we need to create yet another holiday. Another chance for them to make millions, but one that would allow us to buy back that peace and tranquility, at least for 24 hours. It should be called National Silence the Cell Phone Day. They will promote everyone picking up pen and paper and envelope and stamp. Or if intimidated by the aforementioned list, substitute paper for a pre-written greeting card. (Hallmark will opt for this) Then prepare a cup of tea, light a candle, sit where there is a lovely view of our natural world, and write a note to someone you love, taking the time to think slowly and carefully about what you want to say and release it as slowly into the world, permanently, recorded and saved for the beautiful intention or acknowledgement that it is.