There was a video on CNN going over the topic of cell phone etiquette, and it ended with the weather guy tossing his phone over his shoulder after it rang. I’m with that guy. I own my cell phone; it does not own me.

I have it on when I am out and about, and not at work or at home.

If I am with friends, I have it off. Or, if there is a real need for someone to get my immediate attention, which would necessarily be a situation involving my children, and blood and/or fire, then I keep it on vibrate.

If I am out and about with my children, the cell phone is off.

I use it when I need it and only then. It is for my convenience. It is there for me. I am not there for it.

When I see my daughter texting during dinner or in church, or having to stop mowing the lawn for ten minutes because she gets a call, then I know that she does not understand this. I would hate to see what would happen to her if she somehow lost that phone. I think she’d dry into a husk and crumble to dust in a matter of a few short seconds.

I think next weekend the kids are all here, I’m going to declare Saturday the zero technology day. We’re going to live like the Amish and have no TV, no computer, no cell phones, no nothing. We’ll cook our food outside on the fire, and when it gets dark, we’ll sit in the dark. Maybe light a candle. We’ll talk, and we’ll maybe sing songs, and we’ll maybe play a game or read a story. Or the Bible.

This will be therapeutic for us all.