The "Essential" Apps for Life

     To get out of the habit of checking social media I deleted all the apps from my phone for a week.  When I went to download them all again I noticed something, they are under the category of essentials.  The Apple app store tells us that Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, etc are "essential."  What???  They are essential for procrastination, and wasting time.  These apps are not essential to everyday life.  I decided to look a the other apps in this category.  They have some reasonable ones including an alarm clock, calculator and financial tracker.  Then there are ones that make me more sad like Temple Run, Clash of Clans, Tinder, and the Starbucks App.  What are we doing with our lives America?  Can you please look up from your block that "connects" you to the world and see the humans in front of you?  

The Reason I went Social Media free:

This is what I get for falling.

     I was frustrated that time seamed to rush by, that my friends weren't replying and that my math grade was low.  I went to check my Instagram and I thought "this where all my time goes, to die"  Instead of checking it, I deleted the app.  I lost track of how many times I unlocked my phone to check my social media apps.  The first day was so hard, I felt I was missing out on hearing about everything.  In reality this is the first week I really lived here in Murphy.

Painting by Liz

     Monday during and between classes I looked around campus to see everyone's face in a phone, walking next to friends.  This broke my heart because the one thing I wanted was to walk with a friend and talk.  These people had that and instead of loving that human they spent time with a brick.  Tuesday went by quick, I wrote letters and didn't even notice my phone till I was in front of the TV and wanted to be inspired by Pinterest.  The two media platforms I missed the most was Pinterest, and Instagram.  Wednesday I embraced the mud!  Y'all this was my favorite part of the week.  I got to school early and the sky was beautiful beyond words.  Of course the next thing one would do in this situation is walk through the field of trees.  It had be raining all week so the ground was muddy and I'm a clumsy person to begin with.  I tripped on air taking the picture you see to the right.  Mud covered my leg and right side.  I laughed at my self so hard it wad embarrassing, and then spent the next 9 hours muddy as my day went on.  It was the best day.  Thursday the clouds couldn't make up their minds on what to throw down on us so there was snow here, hail there, and rain in between.  I got to play with my sewing machine and I painted a pretty awesome picture.  I'm impressed with myself, I didn't think it was possible.  Friday (today) I had lunch with a beautiful new friend of mine and talked over coffee and tea.  Week of love and freedom is what I experienced.

The Essential Apps for Life

       Apple, Android, and the phone world has it all wrong.  The essential apps that should embrace your time, replacing mindless scrolls through news feeds.  Here all all the "apps" you need the Bible app.  Yes that is right one app will give you joy, peace, love, hope and more!  I'm not saying I won't use social media any more, or that I won't text people anymore.  I am saying that ALL of us have to pay more attention to the world beyond our rectangular screens.  Embrace the muddy life.  Laugh at mistakes and step out of your comfort zones.  Bottom line no apps are essential, your phone isn't even essential.  Learn what it is like to live free from the chain of "social media."

Words for thought,
Lizzy  

---Still working on "What is Love?" post.---