As much as we don’t want to admit it, we are addicted to our phones, now more than ever before. Millions upon millions of Americans couldn’t survive one day without using their phones. Not only are they an essential part of our lives, but most people utilize them for work as well. Society is so blinded by their phones that it is sometimes difficult do travel back to the real world. Looking around campus, I’ve noticed that students have mastered walking and texting without the need to ever look up. Technology and smartphones in particular have a simple way of consuming you into this certain type of impractical world. I never imagined that this little machine could take over my life, but I’m so far beyond that point. Our phone obsession is an all day occurrence so make sure you have a charger on hand.
The day starts by the loud ringing of our alarm to wake us up. How else could we possibly get up after being awake all night from watching every single one of those “Tasty” cooking videos on your timeline? For the next 30 minutes to an hour, we sit on our phones and check every social media to make sure we aren’t missing out on the latest and most popular “Damn Daniel” videos or the newest slurred Trump speech. Depending on where and when you need to be up, you might even end up stalking your best friend’s cousin’s sister’s ex-boyfriend. Don’t ask me how -- it seriously just happens. Later while sitting in class, you get slightly distracted when your phone keeps lighting up due to the group message you have with about 15 of your friends. That education you’re paying for? Yeah, it’s being spent texting your friends about what y’all are wearing for the party that weekend (sorry mom and dad).
When you get back from class, your day continues with you making something super simple for lunch. Not only are you going to try to make that new “5-ingredient” Pinterest recipe that you recently pinned, you’re going to send a Snapchat to all your friends so they know how domesticated you’ve become. Throughout the day, you’ve been waiting for a text from that guy you met at the bar the other night. You gave him your number and exchanged a few texts, but he left you on “read.” All day you’re thinking about it: maybe he just forgot, maybe he just never sent it, or maybe he just doesn’t want to talk: either way, it’s exhausting. Whenever something exciting happens or if your dog is just looking cuter than usual, you want to pull out your phone and Snapchat it. Because “pics or it didn’t happen, right?”
You eventually make your way out of the house to go see a friend. When you get there, the first thing you ask is for the Wi-Fi password, obviously. Instead of going out to meet new people, you and your friend spend the night on Tinder, swiping through groups of people who you might end up talking to for about and hour, but will eventually die off. Tinder and other “dating apps” are killing the romance. What happened to walking up to that cute person in class and asking them for a date?
Long story short, the point I’m trying to make is that we are addicted to our phones. They are a distraction and are truly impacting the way in which we live our normal lives. Instead of walking up to a friend’s door, we text them “here.” Instead of spending vacation time with your family, we spend it playing on our phones, doing anything but socializing. The very popular fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-A, is joining in on this issue. The restaurant has placed boxes on each of the tables for phones to be put into while eating. If they aren't touched or used until after the meal, those people will receive a free ice cream from the restaurant.
Although it is nice to see change happening in today’s tech-savvy world, everyone should learn to be better about putting their phones down and having a real-life conversation from time to time. Those sweet texts that you receive are nothing compared to a deep, meaningful, and genuine conversation between you and a friend, relative, or even a stranger. Put down your phone, look up, and experience this beautiful thing called life. You can thank me later.
