Do You Suffer From Text Neck Syndrome?

by Linda

A funny thing happened to me a while back. Not so much funny-haha, funny in that it was something unexpected and brought with it a little stress and an epiphany, sorta.

You see, I have one of those devices that keep me connected with the outside cyber world. Have you seen it? It's a marvel of our modern technological world, it contains the power of a computer that once needed to be housed in a very large building with very strong air conditioners. Yet, I can hold it in my hand!

I can read email, google search anything, text, check the weather, take pictures, edit pictures, check facebook/instgram/twitter etc. and make a phone call. I am always fearful of dropping it either on the floor or in water and when it's time to upgrade, I make sure I don't lose ANYTHING that is stored on it. I love it! It is my dear friend!

That is why one day, when I became separated from it, I suffered a brief panic attack.

Here's what happened and what I did-

I was out back with the girls roasting chile. This is an activity that needs to occur outside and takes several hours. Older girl was helping and the younger one was playing PokemonGo on my phone. If you play PokemonGo, you know it sucks the battery like crazy. So it wasn't long before I was informed that my phone was out of juice. Older girl volunteered to take my phone inside and plug it in. Thanks! That was a big help!

Soon their dad arrived to take them home. They went inside to gather their things then came outside to say goodbye. They went in the back door and out the front door. After a little bit, about 15 minutes, I decided I needed to go inside and get something out for dinner. So I went to the back door-locked. So I went to the front door-locked. Great. Now what! I don't have my phone! I can't get anyone here to unlock the door and let me in! It was hours till someone came home! I have to get in! Should I break the glass on the door? Break a window? Try to have superhuman strength and pull open the garage door? Panic!

Well I could go to a neighbor and ask to use their phone but the problem was there were only 2 phone numbers I knew and one was my home number and the other was my cell number. Great! I'm stuck outside and it's starting to rain!

An then a calmness came over me. I had a covered area to get under while it rained. I had water and the dogs were out with me. No biggie. I could wait. So once the rain stopped, I finished roasting my chile. Then as I looked around my yard I noticed just how pretty the trees were swaying in the breeze. I listened to the birds calling and the cicadas singing. It was lovely! There was nothing to distract me from all the wonder and beauty of nature that was waiting to be noticed in my own backyard!

I cleaned up a few flowerbeds, played with the dogs and just let the time pass. Can I say that it was the most relaxing thing that has happened to me for a long time? I obviously spend too much time in the cyber world and that isn't a good thing for me.

I was disconnected and unplugged from everything. I couldn't check anything to see who went where or who did what. And I couldn't share what I did and where I went.

And guess what? The world didn't end. Nobody cared that I wasn't online and I'm just fine with that!

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How about you? Have you ever stepped away from the cyber world and truly experienced the life that is all around you? You really should try it! I am making it a practice that at least once a week, I am totally unplugged!

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My dilemma ended after about 3 hours when trophy husband came home from work and let me back in the house.