I recall a time when I am sitting at dinner with my friends. I bring up this thing I saw on Pinterest: when you sit down for dinner, everyone puts his/her phone in the middle, and the first person to touch his/her phone pays for dinner. A resounding echo of laughter filled the area…laughs. I suggest we take a break from phones for maybe an hour, and I get laughed at. This made me think….

Let me start by saying, I am so guilty of this. Whether it’s distracting myself from my accounting class or not listening to a friend as intently as I should, I use my phone, my laptop, and social media to distract myself. But why? I pay a lot, and I mean a lot, of money to go to Belmont, and I love my friends to death, so why do I always need a screen in front of my face?

I find that it is a sense of escape. We as college students are stressed, and if you say you aren’t stressed, you’re lying, or not human. But when you unlock our phone and open Facebook, suddenly you're not a “stressed out college student trying to figure out whether to save money or spend it on food or do homework”, you're a “normal college student whose profile picture with Nashville filter makes her feel better about the sweats she’s hanging in now”. It’s almost an alter ego, nothing can go wrong, there’s no stress on Instagram or Facebook, there’s just what filter looks best.

And don’t get me wrong, I love being able to keep up with friends no matter where the are, and I love what technology has done for the world, but here’s where we suffer: the people we’re with in real life suddenly aren’t good enough, or so that’s how it comes off. Sitting across from your best friend, talking to her about your day, and she’s on her phone; it’s sad. We get too caught up with the people that aren’t there and forget about the people that are right in front of us. Whether we ignore a friend, a teacher, a parent, it has become apparent that we are too reliant on an escape from reality and keeping up with everyone we know everywhere, all of the time.

I know it's hard, especially now with Pokemon Go, but I urge you all, put down the phone when you’re with other people. Have a meaningful conversation with a friend or loved one. When they ask you how your day was, don’t just use the knee-jerk reaction “good, you?”. Engage with those around you, invest in your education, make people feel like what they’re saying matters. Because, trust me, Facebook isn’t going anywhere soon, and Instagram filters just keep getting better, but that important thing your friend sought you out to tell you, specifically you, is only available screen-free.