The World and Everything in It: August 9, 2023

The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. I'm Robin Lewis and I'm a wife, mother and active duty clinical psychologist serving in Charleston, South Carolina. My husband who is a professor of philosophy at a local college and our twin sons who are rising sophomores at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa and volunteer interns at harvest medical clinic this summer, often enjoy discussing topics that surface on the World Podcast. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running for president, but can he restart a sputtering campaign?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also today, news from around the world on WORLD Tour.

Plus home canning…is it art…science or both?

This has no artificial ingredients in it. This has a little blackberries in it to make it a little different.

And WORLD Commentator Janie B. Cheaney on that rude thing we do with our phones.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, August 9th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

REICHARD: It’s time now for news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR:

Severe weather » Millions of Americans are cleaning up streets, pulling tree limbs out of car windows, and filing insurance claims this morning … after severe storms slammed much of the eastern U.S.

Carim Khouzami is president of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company.

KHOUZAMI: Our service territory experienced one of the most devastating storms that we’ve seen in many, many years. At the height, we had 120,000 customers out of service — 56,000 in Carroll County alone.

In total, more than a million customers lost power … from Alabama to Pennsylvania.

At least two people were killed in the storms.

Officials say it appears that an EF-2 tornado touched down in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Ukraine » A new report suggests that NATO allies no longer expect Ukraine to make any major breakthroughs on the battlefield before winter weather sets in.

CNN cites an intelligence source in reporting that Western officials are receiving “sobering” assessments of the situation.

But State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States remains committed to the cause.

MILLER: We continue to supply Ukraine with artillery, with a whole host of weapons. We have other announcements coming later this week about additional assistance that we plan to supply to Ukraine.

The new report states that Ukraine has suffered “staggering losses” in some places as it tries to push through deeply entrenched Russian defenses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the counteroffensive as “challenging.” And he conceded that it may be unfolding slower than many had hoped. But he said Kyiv’s forces are still on the attack and are not retreating.

Harris announces worker rules » Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced that the Labor Department is updating its payscale for construction workers.

HARRIS - These workers deserve our recognition and appreciation and they deserve something more: they deserve a raise.

Harris heard there in Philadelphia yesterday. The update is expected to affect roughly 1 million construction workers.

Critics say the move is not responsible right now with Washington already running massive deficits.

Pence qualifies » Former Vice President Mike Pence is the latest GOP candidate to qualify for the first presidential debate … two weeks from today in Milwaukee.

Pence said this week that his message to voters … is that if they’re looking for a straight shooter, he’s their man.

PENCE: I’m the guy talking about the national debt. We have the largest national debt since the end of World War II. It’s the size of our economy, and we’ve got to be honest with the American people about the need for reform.

Pence’s campaign announced Tuesday that he had amassed 40,000 unique donors, checking off the final debate requirement set by the Republican National Committee.

Eight Republicans have now qualified to participate. But it’s unclear if one of those candidates, former President Donald Trump, will join.

Haiti protests » Thousands of people are protesting in Haiti … calling for protection from violent gangs. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has more.

LC: Protesters burned government vehicles in the capital of Port-au-Prince earlier this week … police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Gangs have seized control of up to 80% of the capital since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.

Last October, Haiti’s prime minister requested an international armed force to be deployed to the country.

The United Nations refugee agency says about 73,500 people fled the country last year because of the unrest.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

Ohio vote » Ohio residents rejected a ballot initiative that would make it tougher to amend the state constitution. Republican lawmakers backed the measure … ahead of a fall campaign that will become the nation’s largest referendum on abortion rights.

The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future constitutional amendments. That could make it more likely that Ohio will enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution later this year.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: on Washington Wednesday, Ron DeSantis tries to reload his campaign.

Plus, preserving a family tradition.

This is The World and Everything in It.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday the 9th of August, 2023.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It…restarting the Ron DeSantis campaign.

Many Americans first heard about the Florida governor during the pandemic, when he decided to end lockdowns earlier than any other state. And then in 2022, after a projected red wave resulted in a red trickle, Ron DeSantis was the big Republican winner by 19 percentage points. Many saw his victory speech as something more…the beginning of a campaign for president.

DESANTIS: Now thanks to the overwhelming support of the people of Florida we not only won election, we have rewritten the political map.

REICHARD: For months, analysts speculated about the timing of DeSantis’s inevitable announcement that he would run for president. All the while, polls indicated that if DeSantis jumped into the race, he would be neck and neck with former President Donald Trump.

On May 24th he jumped in…making the unusual decision to announce his campaign in a Twitter Spaces event…and it got off to a rough start.

TWITTER SPACES: Yeah, I mean, so Governor DeSantis can, are you there? Can you hear us? I think you, I, I know, I think, I think you broke the internet there. We had over half a million people in one Twitter space and it was growing by like 50,000 a minute.

BROWN: Instead of boosting his polling numbers, DeSantis’s campaign announcement was followed by a steady drop. Trump now has a double digit lead over DeSantis nationally.

REICHARD: So, what happened? And what does DeSantis need to do to change the direction of his campaign?

It’s Washington Wednesday, and joining us to talk about it is WORLD Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno.

LEO BRICENO, REPORTER: Hey Mary, thanks for having me.

REICHARD: Well, what's been the DeSantis strategy since he announced his candidacy, in particular, anything to distinguish himself from the other candidates?

BRICENO: Well, sure, in the three months since he's launched his campaign DeSantis has been running the primary gauntlet, right, that looks like campaigning heavily in Iowa. That's the first state that will vote in the GOP primary. He's been shoring up support, and more traditionally, Republican states like South Carolina, and getting his message across to the Republican voter base. So far, that message focused on pitching the success that he's had in Florida to the rest of the country. When DeSantis first came onto the national stage, much of the country was under the grip of COVID-19, right? And there was a lot of uncertainty about how to best balance business and public safety. And as the governor of Florida DeSantis made some really tough calls, didn't shut down the state in the same way that California and New York other states had. And in terms of economic performance, that decision paid off. And in the years since, Florida has become a magnet for businesses. It's topped rankings and higher education. And it's been an increasingly popular moving destination for families. So DeSantis's performance on things like economic strength and education have given him this platform that he's using now to pitch that same success to the rest of the country. Of course, some of that pitch is more reflective of the issues facing America at large, not just Florida. He's he's placing a lot of emphasis on competing with China, for instance, standing by American allies internationally, like Israel, and he paid a visit to Israel just recently in April. And he's focusing on increasing American energy production, things like that.

REICHARD: So DeSantis is zeroed in on policy…but that’s not what the media wants to talk about.

BRICENO: That's right. Actually, when the media talks about DeSantis, it's rarely ever because they're taking a look at what he's pitching, right. A lot of screen time has gone to Trump his indictments and the comparisons between former president and the Florida Governor. That's dominated the news cycle when it comes to DeSantis. Almost every headline I've seen in association with him has been about that polling. And speaking of which, if we're if we're going by an average, something like a FiveThirtyEight poll that takes an aggregate of a number of polls, DeSantis is hovering at around 15%. Trump, by comparison, looking at the same kind of poll is around 51-52%. That disparity is really taking center stage when it comes to DeSantis. And he's having a hard time getting coverage that's about his ideas or platform, as opposed to that campaign in the moment that it's in presently.

REICHARD: That’s a story in itself; may need to follow up on that later. Leo, based on past primary races, is Trump’s lead too large for DeSantis to catch up?

BRICENO: Well, overtaking a candidate that's performing 25 points better than anyone else would be historic in this case. There have been a few instances where candidates have caught up to a front runner with a lot of momentum. Right off the top of my head John McCain comes to mind, right, in 2008, the Republican primary he overcame a 12 point deficit to beat Rudy Giuliani. Earlier still, Bill Clinton, he did something similar when he won the Democratic nomination for president. That was a 15 point lead that he overcame and ultimately beat out Mario Cuomo. But the reality is these kinds of comeback stories are a rare occurrence when it comes to primaries. Let's put it this way. I mean, no candidate with a 20 point lead has lost in the past 50 years. That's a telling statistic right there.

REICHARD: No candidate with a 20 point lead has lost in the last 50 years. I did not know that. Oh, well, we know that campaigns take money, they can only stay alive with funding. And I saw some news that DeSantis has run into some money trouble. What's going on there?

BRICENO: Yeah, on his first day as an official candidate DeSantis pulled big numbers, and we were talking money, he picked up 8 million and under 24 hours. According to disclosures from the Federal Election Commission, he's raised 130 million total to his political action committee called Never Back Down. And that sounds great. Right. But like you mentioned, part of DeSantis's problem right now is that he's also spending it faster than he's bringing it in. And those same disclosures, the same documents show that the campaign has already spent about a quarter of those funds. So do the math, that's about 32 million in three months. That's a lot of money. But, you know, that's hasn't really been accompanied by a jump in the polls. So maybe that money isn't really hitting the intended mark. Then again, he's not the only one spending hard and fast. Senator Tim Scott is planning a 40 million ad campaign, for example. Trump is a little bit of a unique situation, but his political action committee has spent close to 20 million on legal fees. DeSantis doesn't have to deal with that. So that could be an advantage for him in the long run.

REICHARD: Well, Leo, going back to the question we asked earlier…what happened to the DeSantis mojo? He seemed to be charging to the front, then he wasn’t. Is this a problem with DeSantis or is it really more about the way the political media is framing the story?

BRICENO: It could be a perception problem, sure. We've seen polls go horribly off course before. Think back to 2016 when we all thought we knew right, Hillary Clinton was going to win. And that could be happening here. But there are some troubling indicators for DeSantis. And here's just a list of few.

Number one, DeSantis was polling better before he announced his race than he has since. Pulling support as a hypothetical candidate - that's one thing; but finding support as an actual candidate is another. Somehow, someway DeSantis has to find a way to stoke the excitement, to stoke the buzz that was surrounding his, the possibility of his campaign before he started running. He's got to recreate that somehow. Two, he's behind Trump by 20 points in his home state of Florida, according to Atlantic University. Nationally, as I just mentioned, that number’s worse - around 35%. Now it's important to note that Trump is also from Florida, so that could throw a wrench into things, but most of the time, if you're a presidential candidate, you're expecting your home state to support you. And that just doesn't seem to be the case here for DeSantis. And third, since being indicted for the first time back in March, Trump's support has gone up by 10%, not down. If you're DeSantis, that's really not good.

REICHARD: So what is DeSantis doing about it? Has he grabbed the bull by the horns, acknowledged problems and shown a new direction?

BRICENO: Well for starters, just yesterday, he replaced his campaign manager, Gennera Peck [Jeh-NAIR-uh Peck]. Peck was his campaign manager during the 2022 reelection campaign for governor in Florida, but this time around, things are different. CNN reported that donors and supporters have been concerned about the campaign message lacking clarity, and there was some talk about DeSantis being reluctant to pull the plug on Peck. Now she’s been moved into a strategy role, and James Uthmeier [OAT-meyer], DeSantis’s gubernatorial chief of staff, is taking over.

Uthemeir yesterday told The Messenger that this isn’t a reboot, but more of a reload…quote “People have written Governor DeSantis’s obituary many times,” meaning that he’s been in situations like this before and managed to pull off a win.

Now, this is DeSantis’ third campaign shakeup in less than a month. So whether this newest change brings stability to his campaign will be interesting to watch in the next few weeks here.

REICHARD: Well, the next opportunity to change the narrative will be at the first Republican primary debate on August 23rd in Milwaukee. Who’s qualified for the debate and what can we expect?

BRICENO: So far, eight Republicans have qualified for the debates. That means a candidate must attract 40,000 individual donors and pull in a certain percentage across several polls. And right now those eight qualifying candidates are Donald Trump. Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott, former Governor Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Governor Doug Burgum, and Mike Pence. So, Donald Trump in this case has not officially agreed to participate just yet.

REICHARD: Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for WORLD’s Washington Bureau. Thanks for this report!

BRICENO: Sure thing, thanks for having me!

BROWN: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour. Onize Ohikere is in Brussels, Belgium this week for World Journalism Institute Europe…so World Radio reporter Mary Muncy helped write this report.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: This week’s global roundup starts in Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced Saturday to three years in prison… more than a year after he was ousted.

SOUND: Khan supporters protesting.

Some of his supporters took to the streets on Sunday chanting, “We want freedom.”

The court says Khan concealed assets after selling state gifts while in power. If the ruling stands, it would bar the former prime minister and cricket star from running for public office again.

SHOAIB SHAHEEN: Speaking Urdu.

A lawyer from Khan’s legal team says that the charges are politically motivated… and that they will appeal the conviction.

Now moving to India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a no-confidence motion.

Some parliament members say he’s ignoring violence in the northeastern state of Manipur… where ethnic clashes broke out in May.

Since then, mobs have torched homes and buildings, massacred civilians, and driven tens of thousands of people from their homes.

KIM NEINENZ: Speaking Hindi

This woman says she fled to a refugee camp in May after her neighborhood was burned. She was nine months pregnant at the time.

Parliament members who supported the no-confidence vote say they believe it will force Modi to address the situation.

SOUND: Lebanon protest.

In Lebanon, hundreds of people marched on the capital to mark the third anniversary of a blast that killed around 200 people.

Hundreds of tons of highly explosive chemicals had been shipped to Lebanon in 2013… They were stored improperly at a port warehouse until they exploded.

SOUND: Lebanon protest.

Marchers protested over an investigation into the blast that stalled because of political and legal hurdles. The investigation was suspended for over a year… after the lead investigator faced several lawsuits—mainly from politicians he had summoned to testify.

He reopened the investigation in January.

Now to Ethiopia, where the country declared a state of emergency Friday… after days of fighting between the military and local armed fighters in one of the country’s most populous regions.

TEMESGEN TIRUNEH: Speaking Amharic.

The director of Ethiopia’s national intelligence service says here that the militia is trying to dismantle the regional government… and then the federal government.

Declaring a state of emergency gives the military the power to impose curfews, restrict movement, ban weapons and public gatherings… and make arrests and conduct searches without warrants.

SOUND: 3… 2... 1… Release release release.

We end today’s world tour in space. The first mother-daughter duo is headed to the edge of space on a Virgin Galactic flight early this month.

Keisha Schahaff (KEY-sha SHA-haf) is from the Caribbean island of Antigua. She won two tickets in a draw that raised funds for the non-profit Space for Humanity.

Her 18-year-old daughter, Anastatia Mayers, will accompany her to space.

ANASTATIA MAYERS: I think every time I look at the stars, it almost feels like I have a place in the universe. It reminds me that, like, everything happens for a reason, nothing happens without consequences and those consequences lead to whatever destined future you have.

The third passenger on the flight will be 80-year-old Jon Goodwin, a former Olympian and the second person with Parkinson’s disease to go to space.

The three will board a plane attached to the mothership. They’ll ride with the mothership for about an hour until it detaches and the plane fires a rocket motor to make the final push to the edge.

When they reach the highest point of the flight, they’ll be able to leave their seats and float around the cabin for a few minutes before returning to Earth.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere.

REICHARD: Well, here’s a race for the record books.

A sprinter from Somalia set a new record at the World University Games in China earlier this month.

But probably not the kind of record she hoped for.

During a 100-meter qualifying race, 20-year-old Nasra Abubakar Ali was left in the dust as the rest of the heat blazed down the track. Ali finished with the slowest time ever…21.81 seconds…nearly 11 seconds slower than the front-runner.

Footage of the race almost looks like a prank video…but it turns out it’s not that funny after all. The African athlete is an untrained runner and related to the chair of the Somali Athletics Federation.

BROWN: Cronyism!

REICHARD: Well, she didn’t get away with it. Somalia’s Ministry of Youth and Sport apologized and suspended the chair for corruption.

For Ali’s part…she didn’t seem too bothered to come in dead last. She managed a little celebratory skip across the finish line.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

REICHARD: Today is Wednesday, August 9th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown.

School is just a few weeks away for many students…if you’re a parent looking to get daily news from a biblical perspective, now’s the time to check out World Watch. Our 10-minute video news program for students is available to watch for free this week.

REICHARD: oooh! Good deal!

BROWN: Check it out at world-watch-dot-today.

I bring this up because today’s feature story is a piece I did for both World Radio and World Watch. Mary, are you into food prep?

REICHARD: I have meals delivered to me, like Home Chef.

BROWN: No, I mean preparing your own food for future use?

REICHARD: Oh, you mean like pickling things, or canning?

BROWN: Yes!

REICHARD: I’ve always wanted to learn how to do that.

BROWN: Well, this story about a life-long home canner may whet your appetite.

EMILY COOK: That’s dill pickles, that’s collard greens. Collard greens? um-hum…best way to cook them. That’s fig preserves…

MYRNA BROWN, CORRESPONDENT: Emily Cook smiles when she shows off her collection of mason jars. Quart and pint-sized glass jars lined neatly under solid black walnut kitchen cabinets.

COOK: That’s soup, that’s jelly, that green beans, that’s pears…

Packed inside the jars, entire meals and desserts swim in succulent juices and sweet fruit sauces. Canning is a tradition in Cook’s family.

COOK: My grandmother was the first. But I can remember as a young child my mother canning. And my aunts canned. It was just a normal thing that women did in the household growing up.

74-year-old Cook says canning was also a necessity.

COOK: Well, freezers had not been invented except for just the small freezers so to preserve their food, they could either dry it or can it. If you dried it some foods did not keep their taste and flavor so they learned to can.

COOK: This is my grandmother…

Cook points to a 1920 photograph of her grandmother, a young widow, raising three small children. She says her grandmother worked her farm and canned the foods she harvested to feed her family.

COOK: The woman always has to make sure her family is fed. And that’s why they preserved everything they could get their hands on. You don’t know what the next day’s going to bring.

With the rise of supermarkets, home freezers and electric stoves, home canning began to fall out of favor by the 1950s. In the 70s, the back-to-the-land movements created a canning resurgence. Then, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, a new generation became interested once again in growing and preserving food at home. Online content creators with large followings made it look easy.

YOUTUBE VIDEO: Hey everyone and welcome to episode 398. In this week’s video I want to sit down and talk with you a little bit about food preservation….We are going to be having a very candid conversation on partially the history of canning…

Today, just a few miles from Emily Cook’s kitchen, a group of thirty plus women and a few men are gathering inside a classroom with a makeshift kitchen. They’ll spend the next two hours learning the art of canning.

People arriving for Canning 101: Hello ladies, how y’all doing…

Claire Reichley and Meg Hellmich allow their noses to lead the way.

BROWN: What does it smell like here? It is smelling like some peppers in the back, some onions are creeping up from the back during the class.

HELLMICH: Oh it smelled fabulous. It smelled so good.

Hellmich and her husband are both retired, just looking for another hobby.

HELLMICH: We kind of like to do homemade things. We do a satsuma jelly that we’ve been making for years and people love it for Christmas.

26-year-old Reichley is an educator hoping to introduce her students to canning.

REICHLEY: I actually am the sponsor of the garden club at the local high school so I’m just trying to build some knowledge. I’ve got my own vegetable gardens. So, just trying to learn a little bit.

AMBI CANNING CLASS: For time purposes (blender noise) I’m going to try and do a little kitchen magic…

Regional Food Safety Agent Rebecca Catalena says whatever the motivation, she has one job. As the workshop instructor, she makes sure home canners understand canning is also a science.

CATELENA: That’s one of the big things with extension that we do stress is making sure that it’s tested and safe.

Catelena says there are two main ways to safely can today. Low acid foods like meats and vegetables can have harmful microorganisms. For those items, pressure canning is advised. Pressure canners look like huge crock pots on steroids. They are large enough to hold multiple cans or jars during the heating process. Equipped with a heat gauge to monitor high temperatures, pressure canners can effectively kill deadly fungi and bacteria in certain foods.

AMBI: Well with a water bath canner…

A water bath or hot water canner is a big pot with a lid and a rack in the bottom. Unlike pressure canners, water bath canners are used to process high acid foods, like fruits, which naturally resist bacteria growth. Catelena warns using the two canning methods interchangeably can lead to deadly food poisoning.

CATELENA: People will try to water bath can their vegetables and they think the longer they water bath can their vegetables, that’s going to reduce the risk of botulism. Which is not the case. You need the high temp from the pressure canner and actual pressure to reduce the risk.

AMBI STUDENT: Is that for any canning?

During the workshop, canners get to interact with the canning equipment they’ll eventually purchase and use at home. Speaking of dollars, a solid water bath canner costs around twenty bucks…or you could pay three times as much online. Pressure canners often cost over two-hundred dollars and sometimes go much higher.

AMBI: I put the blueberry pie filling in the refrigerator last night where it would be cool

Back in Emily Cook’s kitchen, her pressure canner sits on her stove. She says she can’t complain about the extra dollars spent when she considers the big picture.

COOK: So if you grow your own vegetables you can do seven probably for $1.50 and you can’t buy seven quarts of for instance green beans for $1.50, so it does save you money.

And when it comes to taste…she opens her fridge and pulls out her latest creation…a deep purple compote with round blueberries handpicked, washed, and canned three months ago.

COOK: This has no artificial ingredients and this has a few blackberries in to make it a little different.

As she spoons the fruit sauce over an inviting slice of cream cheese pie, art and science become one. It’s pretty close to perfection!

AMBI, COOK SERVING MYRNA PIE: Oh, I get more…. Oh my goodness.. There you go… you got lots of blueberries…

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Fairhope, Alabama.

BROWN: Today is Wednesday, August 9th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next…WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney on news that cell phone use may be harming marriages.

JANIE CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: Imagine you’re trying to talk to someone: a relative or friend, or just an acquaintance. There’s something you need to say, but she’s carrying on a second conversation, a far more compelling one to judge by the way she stabs and swipes the small flat object on her palm. If she’s listening to you at all, it’s with half an ear.

If that sounds familiar, you know what it’s like to be “phubbed.”

Phubbing is the unlovely portmanteau for “phone snubbing,” or ignoring the person a few feet away so you can focus on someone or something in cyberspace. I experienced the above scenario after a Sunday morning church service while I was trying to informally counsel a woman whose husband had walked out on her. The other woman started texting while I spoke, and the drama of that give and take was just too tempting to her. To me, it was irritating beyond words.

Phubbing—the behavior—has been around for decades, but I’d never heard the word until several studies revealed it was harming marriages. Imagine that! Headlines proclaimed “The Insidious Habit that Can Hurt Your Relationship” and informed us that “Tech Addiction Doesn’t Only Hurt the Young.” We’ve all heard how Tik Tok and Instagram are warping teenage worldviews and relationships, but what about grownups who should know better?

I didn’t get a smart phone until last year, and then it was only because we were moving and I wasn’t sure when we would get our internet connection. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. I’m not glued to it; sometimes I inadvertently leave the house without it and manage not to panic. Sometimes I deliberately keep my hands off while sitting in a waiting room or at the DMV. Sometimes. But it calls to me, especially in the small still morning hours when I should be talking to God, not scrolling the latest news and scuttlebutt.

What are we getting from that hunk of silicon and circuitry? Valuable information, for sure, like the phone number of your dentist and what’s playing at the local cinema. Some good reading, too, if you can train your mind to pay attention to it—but there’s the rub. More than any other invention in world history, the mobile phone caters to our innate restlessness. We’re born unsettled, into a world that doesn’t know what to do with us because we don’t know what to do with ourselves. It’s a consequence of sin, of seeking satisfaction in everything except our Maker. Every Christian knows this disease, but we don’t always recognize the symptoms. One symptom is to continually wonder what we’re missing instead of paying attention to where we are.

Back in the day when a phone was just a phone, AT&T came up with a brilliant advertising slogan: “Reach out and touch someone.” If you find yourself instinctively reaching for a hand-held device instead of a hand, you might want to reconsider.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

REICHARD: Tomorrow: Ohioans voted yesterday on whether to make it harder to amend the state constitution. We’ll hear why and what it has to do with the pro-life movement.

And, an organization that flies missionaries to remote parts of the world turns 75 this year.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I'm Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Psalmist writes: How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Psalm chapter 36, verse 7.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.