What’s Wrong With This Picture?

This picture is what the Bette Midler shared in a Tweet earlier today.

Three girls.  Sitting on a bench in an art museum.  Incredible works of art all around them.  And they are on their phones.

But people are instead shaming Better Midler for shaming and calling out the girls.

Is she not making a point?

How many times do we need to be reminded (myself included) that we spend more time looking at our screen than looking around us.

A message series at my church recently has me rethinking how much I am distracted by things like my phone and especially social media.

How many times have I been in a situation where I am more focused on getting the right picture to share online than actually soaking in the moment.

How much do we miss looking through a camera lens, when we should be focused on what is actually around us?

I’m a big fan of pictures.  I think when you lose people close to you and all you have left are pictures, you work extra hard to make sure you never go without pictures again.

But even I go overboard.

I’ve started putting my phone down more often.  Or leaving it in another room entirely, just so I am not tempted to check those darn notifications. I set a timer on my phone so my apps shut down at a certain time and don’t come on til a certain time.  It’s teaching me.  It’s helping me.

Technology is awesome.  I think we just need to be more aware of what is around us.  The artwork (like in the picture).   But maybe we don’t have to grab our phones to document everything.

Maybe in those awe inspiring moments, we need to put down the phone and just be in awe of what is in front of us.  Whether it’s famed artwork, or our kids, or a sunset, or Christmas lights.

Be more present.  Fully in the moment.

Thoughts?

Categorised in: Afternoons

This post was written by Carrie Buchanan