A couple of days ago as I was getting ready to leave my house to go to my internship, I had a major freakout. As I began to close the door to my house, I came to a realization. I opened my bag and quickly rummaged through its contents. It suddenly dawned on me that I had a major issue. Where was my phone? I thought I put it in my bag two seconds ago.
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I called out to my dad who was waiting for me in the car outside and told him to wait five more minutes. We couldn’t leave the house yet. I NEEDED to look for my phone. I dropped my bag on the floor and began to search frantically all over the house.
I ran from room to room. I looked under beds, couches, piles of clothes and opened virtually every cabinet and drawer and still NOTHING. How was I supposed to go about my day without my phone? What if there was an emergency or I needed to get in contact with someone? How was I supposed to tell my mom where and when to pick me up? What if my boss sent me an email saying she wasn’t coming into the office today? I then heard a honk from outside, signaling I needed to leave soon and leave my phone behind. Continuing to feel panicked and filled with anxiety, I took a deep breath and took one last look around the house. Feeling unprepared for the day that laid ahead of me, I closed the front door and went on my way.
In this day and age, there is no question that people heavily rely on technology to go about their daily lives, particularly our beloved cell phones.
Need to get in contact with someone to let them know you will be late? Check. Need to deposit more money into the bank in order to use your debit card? Enter your online banking app. Need directions and or a map to the nearest subway station? Enter Google Maps. In 2016, virtually everyone has some sort of device to connect with the outside world. Because of this, many can’t imagine their lives without having access to their smartphone.
It wasn’t long ago that my parents used to share a cell phone. As a 4 or 5 year-old, I remember my parents sharing a small black Nokia mobile phone. Equipped with wireless calling capabilities, a black and white screen, big buttons that would light up in the dark, and a fat antenna, my parents had the ability to get in contact with anyone on the go. While my parents would utilize the cell phone once in a while, for a majority of the time the phone was frequently left on a shelf to gather dust. It wasn’t until I was 7 or 8 that the idea of having a cell phone was a necessity.
Not having my phone on me for the day made me come to the strong realization that these days everyone is SO incredibly reliant and dependent on their phones to go about their daily lives. One can particularly notice this throughout college or a job in the real world. Whether you work at a company or are a student, you are expected to check your email almost every waking moment of the day for meetings, announcements, assignments etc. Combing that with the increased importance of an organization’s online presence and your own online presence, one is constantly pressured to access their devices.
Walk down a street in a small town and or big city and you will most likely see a person using their phone and or listening to music as they walk on the sidewalk. Go to any cafe or restaurant and make yourself aware of the people sitting at the tables that surround you. When not talking with each other, many of those people are most likely sitting in silence, looking down at their phones.
Though I have only been around for about 20 years, I am convinced that the society in which my parents grew up in and those before them, people were much better at communicating and actually interacting with each other.
Before
After
People seemed to actually enjoy spending time with people. Because cell phones, text messaging, and Snapchat weren’t a thing then, one was forced to pic up a landline phone and dial their friend’s number and actually talk to them. With the rise of cell phones and smartphones throughout the last decade or so, why do you think many fear and or despise talking on the phone? Because these days most of society relies so much on text message, social media, and email to communicate and interact with others, that having a simple non-virtual conversation with someone is a struggle for many.
While there points I felt naked without having my phone on me a couple of days ago, I was still able to get in contact with the people I needed to contact in someway or another and had insightful conversations with my boss and co-workers.
So why did I put you through the agony of reading this article? People should abandon their phones more often. Disconnect. When you refrain from using your phone, not only is the burden of the feeling that you have to have your phone by your side in order to be “connected” taken off your shoulders, but overall you will feel more focused and content and have meaningful conversations with others. Less thoughts and worries will be swarming around in your head.
So take a day to enjoy your surroundings like the two dogs in the picture below. Take in the landscape that surrounds you. Meet people. Converse face-to-face with the people around you. Next time you go out to dinner with friends or family, don’t take out your phone.
