Like most Americans, for many years now I have known my smartphone as one of my closest companions. It is always there to make me laugh, keep me connected, or distract me from worries. It’s the last thing I look at each night and the first thing I look at each morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
But lately I have been noticing more distance between me and the phone. And it is nothing I set out specifically to do. It is largely a byproduct of some of my new habits.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
First, I am making sure that my morning coffee time is spent with Scripture instead of Twitter. Yes, I typically use the Bible app on my phone, but that’s just so I can read while the house is still dark. In my mind, I am holding the Bible in my hand and not a phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Second, I have gotten back into reading actual physical books so that I can underline important thoughts. So if I get a spare 20 minutes in the evening, I am now more likely to pick up a book than to look at my phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
And finally, I have decided the fifteen minute drive to and from school is a good time to prioritize quiet meditation and prayer over turning on a podcast. On my way to work in the morning, I try to pray for my students, co-workers and administrators. On my way home, I pray for my family.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
I realized the smartphone’s hold on me was loosened last week when I left the house, forgetting to get my phone off the charger. That would have driven me crazy in the past, but now it didn’t phase me.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like most Americans, for many years now I have known my smartphone as one of my closest companions. It is always there to make me laugh, keep me connected, or distract me from worries. It’s the last thing I look at each night and the first thing I look at each morning.\u00a0 But lately I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7980,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7979\/revisions\/7980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}