Constantly Connected

Independence Day: How I turned my smartphone off for the weekend and survived

There a lot of words that describe how to enjoy the world once that smartphone is turned off.

For the past several years, I’ve spent nearly every Fourth of July at a rural lake house near Austin with almost no phone or Internet access. The only phone service was via a landline in the kitchen, and when we tried to explain wireless Internet to the 84-year-old lake house owner a few months ago, she thought we were making it up.

These things (combined with my refusal to join the big bad world of smartphones until last November) always led me to be one of the crotchety guests who demanded that my friends and family members put down their mobile devices and enjoy the beauty of the lake and the company of their fellow Independence Day revelers.

At least, until last weekend, when I became one of the offenders as our grandmother’s well-meaning children hooked up that wireless Internet and the ritzy new community across the lake put in cell towers. There I was, tap-tap-tapping away on my iPhone while sitting on the dock, being admonished by my friends.

“We don’t want to be checked in on FourSquare,” they said.

“Quit checking your email,” they said.

“I CAN’T DISCONNECT!” I wailed.

At what point did we, as Americans, develop the inability to relax on vacation? We know Europeans with their many weeks of vacation don’t feel nearly so compelled. According to a recent survey, 74 percent of us want to be connected on vacation, and nearly one in five are emailing and surfing via mobile devices and tablets — even on a honeymoon.

I can certainly relate, because although I tried to leave my phone upstairs in my suitcase all weekend, I felt like an amputee with phantom limb syndrome, knowing I was missing something and feeling like it should still be attached to me.

Except I was just experiencing what my family calls FOMO – or Fear Of Missing Out. The reality was that I was missing very little, prompting me to write my own Declaration of Independence from my mobile device (at least while on vacation). Some of the tenets include:

1. Announce your absence

Because everyone knew I was out of the office on vacation, I received very few emails from co-workers, and even fewer that couldn’t wait until I returned to the office. In our hyper-connected era, we all recognize the value of a little downtime, and it’s likely that others won’t bother you on vacation unless absolutely necessary.

2. Everyone else is not having more fun than I am, nor do they care what I’m doing

Though I kept checking Facebook and Twitter to see what my friends were doing over the long weekend, I realized that I never wished I was anywhere else-not once. If anything, it made me appreciate my vacation choice all the more.

And you know what? No one else really cared where I was either, because they were off having their own fun.

3. I did miss out on something

I missed out on seeing that “incredible” shooting star and I didn’t catch that mind-blowing one-and-a-half twist backflip that a friend did from the diving platform. All because I had my nose buried in junk emails about getting 20 percent off at J.Crew.

As the temperatures become unbearable here in Houston over the next few months and the entire city seems to skip town in favor of cooler weather elsewhere, wouldn’t it be nice if we all declared our independence from our smartphones?

I’ve certainly learned my lesson, and can promise that this American, for one, will be switching my phone off for Labor Day.

Katy Caudle is director of research at The Alexander Group.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”