For just one day...

   I was speaking with someone the other day and was somewhat surprised to learn that...he did not own a cell phone! The astonished look on my face prompted him to add that he did not have a Facebook page either. The Facebook account I can somewhat understand. I only “joined” Facebook several months ago myself and admittedly lived quite comfortable without it. But I thought everyone, or nearly everyone had a cell phone. I mean, come on, some parents even deprive their children of healthy meals or positive family time in order to pay for a cell phone.

   And if someone doesn't have a cell phone, what do they do while driving in the car to occupy their time? Does it mean both hands on the wheel?

   My question to him.”What would you do if he needed to get in touch with someone in a hurry or worse, someone needed to get in touch with him to check up on the time for dinner or ask the age old question...'whatcha doin' ?”

   As I walked to the car, checking my cell phone for messages, I thought about the discussion I had just had. Was his life simpler, less complicated than most other people? What was he 'missing out' on? But then I thought, maybe I was the one 'missing out'.

   For just one day, what would happen if we all turned off our cell phones? What would we miss? What did we miss before cell phones became so much a part of our lives or did we just plan our lives more efficiently back in the pre-cell days?

   Talk about going 'cold turkey'! No cell phones! The nation's teenagers would suffer a mild meltdown of some sort. And so would many of adults also.

   For just one day, what would happen if you didn't check our Facebook page or better yet, didn't post anything for that day. Your Facebook friends might think you had been abducted by aliens and taken to a far away planet. If that were the case, think about what you could write about the next day!

   To go one step further, for just one day what would you miss if you didn't check you email. For me? I would miss the Kohl's and LL Bean sales notices or the notice from my the doctor reminding me of my upcoming colonoscopy. (It's not actually the doctor sending me the email but it's nice to know she cares.)

   What would happen if for just one day we didn't drive our cars. What about a 'country-wide shut down' when no one drove...all taking place on the same day. Think about how much fresher the air might be or the gas though would be saved. Ah yes, then the price would go up the next day. But, need to get somewhere? Either walk or plan ahead. I see a number of people riding bikes these days. That might work. Remember, there was a time when each household only had one car and most families survived. These day, many have two cars and..oh yes, maybe an additional truck to pull the four wheeler or snow sleds.

   For just one day, what would happen if you turned off the television or 'talk radio' shows and picked up a book. No, Kindles don't count. It has to be a book, something you hold in you hand and gently turn the pages. Nothing electronic on this day.

   Without the television or radio you might miss hearing about events happening in a far off place or miss out on one of our Governor's profoundly political insights (I call them LePage's Rages). So what! If it is going to happen, it is going to happen and we will learn about it soon enough. But by the end of the day, think about how much more peaceful you might feel?

   Just for one day what would happen if we hung up the cell phone, turned off the computer, parked the car in the driveway and took a nice, quiet walk with a friend or family member, played catch with the dog or spent time looking through an old family photograph album or looked at items tucked away in the 'junk drawer'. (That's a reference to a previous column I wrote.)

   With respect, I admire those who can put aside the cell phones and the texting, are not signing into Facebook to see what others are doing (do I really want to know?) or checking email every few minutes. What was suppose to make our lives a bit easier and less complicated has turned into something controlling and often obsessive.

   Not ready to take the leap just yet? Maybe just for one day we at least think about not answering that cell phone call. Let it go to voice mail. Who ever is calling, you can get back to them later!