About a week ago, I read about a woman who worked at Disney World for over 30 years. She said she noticed a big change in today’s children. She noticed children on cell phones, not even looking up. They were visiting the most magical place on earth, yet not participating. What kind of memories are children creating? Just online shorts and nothing real?

Cell phones foster passive participation rather than active participation. Humans are watching and listening to other people and events. Before cell phones, we actively participated in life. We didn’t just watch things on a device.

We need to define what it means to be human. Also, we need to ask, “How can we live our lives to the fullest? And “What takes away from our precious time?”

The cell phone literally pacifies us. We go on it for entertainment and relaxation. But we need to be careful not to let it take away from living life. Screens also dull the mind and train the brain to accept a mediocre life. Humans are so distracted that they accept not being fully present in life.

And, more importantly, we must allow our children to participate fully in life. They need movement and to engage the senses. Every time they look down at their phone, they miss out on living out their childhood and being in the present moment. A human child needs to communicate, play, dream, and create.

The Internet is just like Disney World. It wants our engagement so it can make money. But to participate, we have to follow their rules. Tech companies have spent billions of dollars to find ways to capture our attention.

The system is set up in their favor, not ours. But we still have a choice about whether we want to play. We are at the crossroads, right now, to still have a choice. We need to make some big decisions on how we want to interact with screens and technology.

Namaste.