There are many things that enslave us. One is the smartphone. In my neighborhood there are not that many smartphones. The Rabbonim forbade them and most of the people here listen to the Rabbonim. Here people have kosher phones without internet or email. Plain 'ol cell phones.
There is one fellow I know whose phone is constantly ringing during davening. It can't be that he forgot to turn it off. He has been carrying around the phone for so many years that he should be in the habit of turning it off before davening. He has it on because he needs to know who is calling him and when. He is not a doctor. He is not a Prime Minister. He is an avreich who sits and learns [when he is not talking on the phone]. When I speak to him, his phone rings and he interrupts the conversation to answer. He is enslaved to his phone. He can't turn it off - ever.
He is my friend. He has positive qualities. But he is a slave.
He is not the only one.
May Hashem free us from everything that enslaves us.
