IPods and IPads and IPhones, Oh My!

First off, let’s applaud the clever title.

Oh, stop. Let me get to the point already.

I went to Thunder of Louisville this past weekend - probably one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. Never in my life have I spent over seven hours with over 800,000 people and actually enjoyed myself the entire time. From airplanes and Fwhatevers(cool army planes) to an incredible fireworks show at night, the sky above us was used as a stage unlike I’d ever seen.

While the airshow is amazing in of itself, it only is building the anticipation for the fireworks show, which happens to be the largest in North America. When 9:30 p.m. finally rolled around and those first fireworks shot into the air, the crowd went crazy.

 It’s hard to write about how amazing fireworks are, because in all honesty, there isn’t anything special about them on paper. But, as anyone who has been to a big fireworks show can probably attest, there is just something incredible about the experience.

 As I watched the sky explode with all sorts of colors and shapes over the next half-hour, I couldn’t help but feel like a kid again. I remembered back to the Fourth of July’s of my childhood when my family sat under our yearly church fireworks display. I was convinced that the willow-tree-like fireworks were going to keep getting bigger and bigger until they literally fell on me where I was laying on the grass. It was magical.

In light of my nostalgic moment, I took my eyes of the fireworks for a second to glance at the children sitting close to my group.

 Talk about a buzz kill. 

To my amazement, most of the kids weren’t looking directly at the fireworks exploding in the air above. They were watching them, all right - but through a screen. I turned around and saw a field of thousands behind me, all with their phones and cameras pointed to the sky above.

 IPods and IPads and IPhones, Oh My! (Still clever, right?)

 I just wanted to go grab the kid’s IPad in front of me, turn it off, and tell him, “Enjoy the show! You are missing out on something incredible!”

 Then it hit me - I wasn’t the one saint in a swarm of senselessness.

My phone's storage was just full. 

 It’s full of photos of sunsets, sunrises, and friends doing stupid things.

Videos of my baby brothers acting like lunatics and the dog chasing her tail.

All things that I am glad to have on camera. But many of these I end up deleting a few weeks later when I get the dreaded “Storage is full” alert.

Why?

Because I realize down the road, the memory isn’t much of a memory at all.

It wasn’t special.

It doesn’t make me happy to look at or watch.

Because I wasn’t fully there. I was watching an event behind a screen - like it was a television show, not reality. Not my life. Not an experience worth being fully apart of.

I just wish sometimes someone would turn my phone of and yell at me, “Jordan! Enjoy the show! You are missing out on something incredible!”

I talked to someone yesterday that gave up social media for lent. He said he feels like he has so much more time in the day, now. And he is fully involved in everything he is doing.

I want that to be me (after I write this blog, of course ;)).

Social media is great. IPods, IPhones, and IPads are great.

But before we try to record memories, maybe we should make sure we are actually making memories.

Then snap a photo or two and put it away.

It may be worth remembering after all.