[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9qxjBlL3ko&w=560&h=315]
I’ve seen the Sprint commercial above numerous times as I’ve been watching the NBA Playoffs. The commercial contends that Sprint’s unlimited data plan will help us maximize the human experience as we capture it and upload it with our iPhone 5.
The commercial tells us that “the miraculous is everywhere: in our homes, in our minds.”
The commercial tells us that there are a billion people uploading the human experience.
The commercial tells us that the iPhone 5 can capture the fullness of the human experience and we need to share it with everyone.
I think this commercial is trying to sell us a bill of goods. I have an iPhone with unlimited data and, more often than not, instead of maximizing my human experience it limits my human experience.
The miraculous does happen all around us and we can see so much of God’s heart and character in the human experience. Every time we see someone act out of love, courage or selflessness we see the heart of God. We are created in God’s image so we can experience something of the divine in the human experience.
We can even capture part of the divine and human experience on our phones. Who hasn’t taken a picture of a sunset or of longtime friends reunited? But those are just small windows into the human experience and just a small part of how we use our phones. For the most part, instead of using our phones to capture the human experience, we’re allowing them to distract us from it.
Our phones distract us from those with whom we’re sharing a meal.
Our phones distract us from the beauty and simplicity of silence.
Our phones distract us from children laughing, friends talking and birds singing.
Looking at the world through our phones and sharing it with those around us isn’t the same as experiencing what it means to be human. Being human means stepping more fully into our divine nature and allowing that nature to change our hearts and shine out to others. Again, we can do part of that through our phones but, with all due respect to the marketing company who got paid millions of dollars to create that commercial, we can’t do it all.
I love my phone and how it helps me connect with others and share my human experience. If I’m not careful, though, it limits my human experience to the glow of a screen and homepage full of apps.
We were made for more than that, regardless of what Sprint tells us.
How does your phone help you share the human experience? How does your phone hinder your human experience?
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