DOOMSCROLLING

I was sitting on my couch, scrolling through my phone, when I heard my son Alex in the kitchen making his lunch.

“Did you hear Tim Curry passed away?” I called to him.

“Who?”

“Tim Curry.”

Alex came around the corner from the kitchen. “Never heard of him.”

“What?” I shook my head. “He starred in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded his head. “I heard about that movie.”

“Dolly Parton passed away, too.” I sighed as I kept scrolling. “I liked her music.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Doomscrolling.” He came over to me and held out his hand. “How about I take that for now and maybe you could do something else?”

I held my phone closer to my chest. “I don’t want to give you my phone.”

“You know it’s already noon.” He pointed to my pj’s. “You’ve been on the couch looking through your phone since you got up.”

“It’s my day off.” I argued. “I don’t feel like doing anything right now.”

“I’m making some chicken salad.” He said as he walked back toward the kitchen. “How about I make both of us a sandwich and we can eat out on the back deck.”

I looked out the window. It was a beautiful day out. “Okay. That sounds nice.”

I got up and plugged my phone into the charger then headed for the kitchen. “What can I do to help?”

Alex was cutting up the chicken. “You can get me the mayo out of the fridge.”

“Sounds good.” I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the jar of mayo. “Here you go.” I set it on the counter top.

As I watched him add the mayo I began drumming my fingers on the toaster in front of me.

“What are you doing?” He asked pointing the spoon he was holding at my fingers.

“Oh.” I looked down at my hands and stopping.

Alex eyes got big. “You’re going through phone withdrawal aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You want to go get your phone, don’t you?”

“Well…” I sighed. “Maybe.”

“You still don’t think you have a problem?” He laughed.

“I didn’t say that.” I countered. “I’m just not sure I want to do anything about it right now.”

Alex handed me a plate with the sandwich on it. He then reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone and placed it on the counter top. “How about we both eat without our phones.”

I looked over my shoulder to where my phone was in the living room and sighed. “I guess I can give it a shot.”