Paper Lists

I read a stat the other day that said 37% of adults claim to have a 'high' addiction to their smart phones, and interestingly enough another 37% also claimed 'moderate' addiction. That's over 70% of adults claiming some sort of addiction to their smart phone. And...I'm one of them. I'll be honest, Ryan and I had a discussion before bed last night and it went a little something like this...

Ryan: "How's your day look tomorrow?"
Me: (turning to grab my cell phone from the side table) "I don't know, let me check my calendar....um...pretty good. Only a few meetings in the morning and then a pretty open afternoon."
5 minutes later
Me: "What's the weather supposed to be like this Sunday?"
Ryan: "I think we're supposed to have a 50% chance of rain, but I think its supposed to be nice for our run in the morning."
Me: (turning to grab my cell phone from the side table to confirm) "Yep- you're right."
After 15 minutes joking about something funny....
Ryan: "...there will be hell to pay!" (laughing)
Me: "I wonder where that phrase came from?" (turning to grab my cell phone from the side table)
Notice a trend here?

After Ryan finally reminded me that I had consulted my smart phone at least 4-5 times in the last 20 minutes, I realized I was an addict. But not in the, "If I don't check it, I won't be connected way." More in the, "I'm overly curious and want to have all the info kind of way." As you can tell, I don't like being "out of the know." If that's even a phrase.

But I like to think that I disconnect when I can. When we go on long walks, I leave my phone at home. When I'm upstairs cleaning, my phone will be nowhere in site, and sometimes I leave for the grocery store, with no phone...just my paper list. Which I still prefer. However, sometimes the familiarity of using my smart phone gets the best of me.

Take for example a few weeks ago, when I was headed to the grocery store. I had my list of things ready to go all written out on my "grocery list" task sheet. I grabbed my purse, my reusable bags and my keys and was headed out the door. When I got to the parking lot and grabbed for my list, I realized I had forgotten it. This was one instance where I really wished I had my paper and pen rather than my phone.

So...in true smart phone fashion, my lovely husband took pictures of my list and send them via text message.

 * Apparently we really needed pretzels.

NOT THE SAME. You can't place a check mark on a picture, or scratch a circle around one thing you know you'll forget if you don't get it first. And I've tried those grocery list apps. Having to enter in my pass code each time I need to delete one thing is annoying, and makes my grocery trip even more exhausting. And when you're looking down at your phone in the soup aisle, there tend to be very angry shoppers behind you. I want to print a sign and place it on my back, "I'm not checking facebook statuses, just using my grocery list app, move along please."

One time I almost ran into a police officer while I was pushing my cart and deleting bananas off my list. Thankfully he had a sense of humor and muttered..."texting while driving?" Which I nervously replied with, "at least I'm not in my car." heh heh.

Smartphone- you are lovely, and your wealth of information and educational and entertaining apps help me to keep organized and busy, but I've got to start using you sparingly. My marriage and grocery trips will be much better off for it.