This video is sweeping Facebook right now which is ironic since I'm sure half of us viewed it on our phones. I know I did! And it really did leave me speechless but only for a moment and then something rose up in me.

This is probably the third video I've seen that talks about the negativities of using your phone and being addicted to social media and I couldn't agree more! Especially when it comes to alone time with Kaleb. We're really bad at trying to watch a movie together or having dinner and a nice chat without being on our phones and checking emails, reading articles, looking at Instagram and Facebook, etc. It's something we have to remind each other of a lot when we're out. I love how he talks about how we shouldn't shove iPads in our kids hands and that we should encourage them to go outside and play. We don't have an iPad and Elijah's too small to go outside and play but I remember writing a blog similar to that before he was even born. I don't want that for him. I want technology to be a bonus and a privelege not the thing he wakes up in the morning eager to run to. This video is so very on point but I'm wondering if we ever stop and think about the many benefits of social media and our phones? Yes, there are many benefits!

A guy I went to high school with passed away last week from a rare form of leukemia. I knew he had leukemia because of Facebook. I saw friends share his Go Fund Me website which was being used by his wife to raise money for medicine he needed. People could log on to this website and donate money right there. He didn't live in Texas anymore so this was an ideal and very helpful way for people to help out in any way they could. I had no money to help but I had prayers to offer. When he passed away the way I found out was the many statuses and comments posted on Facebook. Of course this is a tough way for sad news to travel but when our lives move us to different states or cause us to be overseas and phone numbers change without warning and addresses are no longer the same then what better way to keep in touch then through social media accounts?

For the wife whose husband is serving in another country that he's not allowed to tell her the name of all she has is a phone to connect with him. That phone call she just stopped your conversation for is the rare phone call her husband gets to make to tell her he loves her and he'll be home soon.

The grandmother who just sat down and ordered a meal without lifting her eyes to meet yours isn't trying to be rude, she's viewing the newest picture of her grandson who was born 3 weeks ago. She hasn't met him yet because money is too tight for her to travel and her son and daughter in law are trying to get settled into new parent life.

That college student sitting in class half paying attention to your lecture isn't doing it because he doesn't care about the class. He's using the calculator on his phone to see if he can afford to stay in school this semester without working a third job.

That guy who is sitting at the park on his phone instead of watching his kid go across the monkey bars isn't being a bad dad. He's checking to see if anyone has emailed him back about the important position he applied for that could really help him raise his children since he's a newly single father.

These are all made up circumstances...or are they? We just never know whats going on with the people we come in contact with for a brief moment in our daily walk through life. I'm not bashing the video at all. In all honesty that video was right on point and has nothing to do with this post. It just helped spring board my thoughts onto this post because it's something that weighs on my heart every time I hear/read/see someone talk about how annoying or irritating it is when someone is on their phone. We just don't know and how could we? We make such a short passing with people every day that our first response is always a negative one instead of an understanding one.

So, what if we stopped for a moment and put down our phone because WE don't need it but we stop getting so frustrated with the person whose on their phone in front of us in the drive thru line. Slow down, be where you are, but also show grace to the people you come in contact with everyday who are still glued to their technology. They are a soul and we don't know their story.