If you have ever urgently needed to get ahold of me, you have probably been frustrated. I won't text you back right away. Answering a call? 50/50 at best. My friends and family are always harping on me because I am difficult to contact. I understand this agitation; I really do. But I'm not apologetic about it either. Sometimes, I need a phone detox. When I get home, I often set my phone on the charger, on vibrate or silent, and leave it for hours. It isn't because I want to be left alone exactly. It is because just the presence of that phone in my hand or pocket or purse is pulling me away from the world in front of me. What is it about a cell phone that is so magnetic?
I see this with my students all the time. I'm not going to whine about students and their phones in school. Honestly, I utilize the phones for pop quizzes whenever I can. What I am most concerned about isn't the fact that they are not listening to me or not following my cell phone rules (although that totally frustrates me). I am most concerned about the anguish in their faces when they want to reach down in their bag, but I'm standing beside them. And the time a boy chewed his nails raw when I took his phone away for one 50-minute period. I am concerned that we don't know how to function alone or offline. This is why texting and driving is such an epidemic. I fall prey to it too. Today, I had to throw my phone in the back seat of my car just so I would stop lighting up the screen every few minutes as I drove.
So, if I don't get back to you about your funny text until tomorrow, it's not because I am ignoring you, upset, or angry. I just can't come to the phone right now.
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