My friend, Patricia, went on a church retreat this weekend. It starts tonight, and lasts until Sunday. The catch?? You can't bring a watch, cell phone, laptop...any electronic device whatsoever. If you're like me, you're thinking "WHAT?" How could one EVER survive without these things? I have often wondered how we ever survived before cell phones, internet, laptops, and ahem....FACEBOOK?? :-) I'll be the first to admit, I am an addict to texting, email, Facebook, laptops, computers, cell phones, iPods, you name it..if it's got buttons to push, or alerts that say "You've got mail!" (in not so many words), I'm all over it. I'm a gadget NERD. I drive my family crazy, but they still love me. :-) I've often wondered what in the world I did with my time before "gadgets"? I honestly can't recall, but I'm pretty sure I was off the couch , and outside more. ha ha! So I'm wondering if I could ever go somewhere without these things for 3 days? I am lost if I don't have my cell phone with me, and I'm sure many of you can relate. So what about you guys?? Do you think you could survive 3 days without these things?? What about one week? One month? One year?? Some of you are hyperventalating at the thought of one year without your "gadgets". :-) You may laugh and say "I'm not addicted", but are you sure? I'm pretty sure most of us are. I'm not saying these things are bad to have, I'm just saying that I think sometimes these "gadgets" have taken over our lives. If you had to go without these things for any length of time, how would you choose to spend your time, or what would you do, but the real question is, could you do it? Have any of you been on any sort of retreat like this before?? If you have, please share your thoughts. Have a blessed day!
4 comments:
XEA Retreat... 2008. You should have seen the mid 90's bunch of Crackberry addicts. It was hilarious. They all had their cell phone's or Blackberry's out trying to get a signal at Camp Tahkodah... which is an impossible feat.
I had a couple of guys asking to borrow my car so they could drive down the road until they could get a signal... and check in with their wife or whatever.
As for me... I rold my wife I'd talk to her on Sunday and she was perfectly fine with that. I left my phone in the car (turned on) and subsequently the battery died from trying to find a signal. Did I care? No. I turned my phone on when we left Tahkodah and once again reconnected with the outside world. It was the best weekend ever!
That makes me so happy to hear your story Chad, and sad to hear about the others, but somehow I'm not surprised. :-) I'm glad you had an incredible weekend in PEACE!!! :) Thank you for sharing your story!
Great post Julie. I did have much apprehension about leaving it but I didn't miss it. Not even a little bit. In fact when we left there I didn't even want to turn it on.. well, except I really wanted to talk to my mom :)
To your mom?? I thought you were going to say so you could talk to me!! HA HA! Just kiddin'! I'm so glad you didn't miss it. I bet we would all be surprised that we wouldn't miss it, if we just tried it, BUT "trying" is the first step, and that's what many of us don't want to do.
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