Phones are ruining lives. Well… maybe not ruining lives but definitely affecting our lives in some of the worst ways. While writing this article, I had counted a total of eight times to stop and check my phone. As a society, we are addicted to constantly keeping up with what’s going on in media that it distracts us from the many important moments in life.

1) Education

Think about how many times you look down at your phone in class. Think about how many times you snapchat the puppy filter while studying captioning it “School is Ruff”… or something like that. Either way our phones have kept us from getting the education that we all want. It’s nearly impossible to have your phone out while trying to accomplish any school work. Your best bet is to keep your phone in a different room and on silent. Even the sound of a text message is a temptation we can’t resist.

2) Relationships

Not to sound like one of your parents, but they have a point. There are too many times I find myself or others on a phone instead of making conversation. Even I find that most conversations that I have with my friends consist of something to do with our phones. It’s absurd to think people will continue to text one another while sitting across from each other. It’s concerning that we’re losing that value of face-to-face conversation.

3) Quality

How many times do you find yourself taking a picture before you even get to experience what’s around you? Will your food still be hot after taking ten pictures of it? Will the sunset go down before you get to take in the view? The constant need to take a picture and post it on media forces us to lose the quality of taking in these moments. You can’t go out with your friends without having at least one picture being taken. I’m not saying to not take pictures at all and take pride in wearing cute outfits with your friends, but to make the night about having fun and not about what I should post.

4) Productivity

One thing we don’t realize is how much productivity we lose over being on our phones. It’s so easy to waste away hours on Facebook or Instagram because one click leads to another. We say we don’t have time for things such as leisure time, working out, or maybe reading the book we’ve been wanting to read for so long. However, that ten to thirty minutes we spend killing time on our phones can easily be replaced by those things.

Having a phone is great for a variety of things but can become a burden when overused. It’s important to know when too much time on the phone is enough. We can try limiting time spent on our phones and see what our day could possibly consist of.