My bride and I currently attend a church that has been described as mono-generational. That means that almost (not all) of the people who attend this church are of one generation. That generation is the group of people who are 55 and over! The building where we meet does not have a nursery! And there is no youth group! But this group of people have one thing in common with their younger counterparts: They love their cell phones!

But they are not quite as bad as the kids in our church (a previous church!) who were all standing in the lobby in a circle one Sunday morning before the service began. There were six of them there with heads down and seemingly praying together. I came over to commend them for the spiritual dedication they were demonstrating, only to discover they were all feverishly texting on their cell phones. When I asked them to whom they were texting, they each pointed to a different person, all of whom were standing in their circle!

Do you feel anxious when your cell phone isn’t nearby? Do you worry about losing your cell phone? Do you always need to keep your cell phone on? Do you obsessively check missed calls, emails, and texts?

Research studies have revealed that almost 80% of people surveyed felt that their constant connectivity was “helpful,” but other stats show that our cell phone obsession may be undermining our lives. For instance, the studies also revealed the following stats:

Americans check their phones 144 times per day.

– 89% of Americans say they check their phones within the first 10 minutes of waking up.

– 75% of Americans feel uneasy leaving their phone at home.

– 75% of Americans check their phones within five minutes of receiving a notification.

– 75% use their phone on the toilet.

– 69% have texted someone in the same room as them before.

– 60% sleep with their phone at night

– 57% consider themselves “addicted” to their phones

– 55% say that they have never gone longer than 24 hours without their cell phone.

– 47% of people say they feel a sense of panic or anxiety when their cell phone battery goes below 20%.

– 46% use or look at their phone while on a date.

– 27% use or look at their phone while driving.

Americans spend four hours, 25 minutes each day on their cell phones.

Overall, the average American will spend over two months (65 days) on their phones in 2023.

I remember the day the first cell phone entered our home. We only got one, and that was for emergency purposes only. I thought it would be a good idea for my wife to have it while she was out and about in the car especially, but also since she was often out walking, it seemed like a good idea to ensure she had some way of communicating. My new task then became to figure out how to motivate her to carry it with her. I would carry it with me when I went out in the car to distant places where I might need the convenience of a phone in case of a breakdown or whatever.

As we saw how very practical and handy it was to have a cell phone, it became more and more important for both of us to have one. So we got a second one. As time passed, and the cell phone marketers did their jobs well, we kept increasing the functionality of the cell phones until we began to see the “need” for a smartphone or at least a phone with texting capability. These days, for either of us to be without our mobile phones seems like a tragedy. Sound familiar?

The more I think about this thing called nomophobia, the real tragedy is that people in general do not feel the same way about God. We do not see God as essential as latest version of the most-up-to-date smartphone. It is more important that we have the latest apps than to pray or memorize Scripture (oh, did you know? They have an app for that too!).

I would like to propose that we should be less fearful about not having a relationship with our cell phones than we are about not having a relationship with our God. As the statistics seem to support, most people are more concerned about remaining connected with other friends than they are about remaining connected with God. And, by the way, those “friends” do not have to be people we know and relate to regularly! We have become so dependent upon our cell phones that we are traumatized when something happens to them – we lose them or drop them in the toilet, or whatever!

Don’t get me wrong. I am not encouraging a boycott of cell phones. But I am encouraging each of us to become more dependent upon God than we are about our 5G networks! You see, networks come and go, but there are no dead spots with God. He has excellent coverage – 100% coverage for everyone 100% of the time no matter where you are!

The psalmist put it this way: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1).

A deer cannot do without water for very long. So too you and I, no matter how we say it cannot do without God for very long! We may survive for a while, but sooner or later, we all come to the point where we recognize how independent we have attempted to be, but how very dependent upon Him we actually are. The question is, will you do that sooner… or later?

So the question for today is, simply, “How dependent upon God are YOU?”

God bless…

Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for this newspaper and a former pastor in the area. He may be reached at [email protected].