All there

"Fully engaged," that's how author Liberty McArtor says she used to be with her close friends as a child. In contrast, she describes herself today as distracted by and even addicted to social media and technology.

Sitting still in the car at a stoplight for 30 seconds is a long time to be bored, so she must check her phone for notifications. Another example - finding herself "lost in Twitter with no memory of how I got there, even as I'm writing this article!"

photo: businessesgrow.com

Her addiction is not uncommon. But she has an uncommon point to make about boredom: kids should experience boredom sometimes without the instant rush of tweets and likes and texts. 

She says, "When you’re bored, you and your brain have to find something to do . . boredom [as a child] often preceded my most memorable adventures."

Her new resolution is to put down the phone and be "fully engaged engaged in the moment." I think of it as being not distracted by that entertaining phone, but rather all there in that moment.

(cont'd tomorrow)