1. Constantly being rejected and we don’t just mean from asking someone on a date.
Your crush didn’t text you back right away? It’s because you are a horrible kisser! Your friend did not follow you back on Instagram? That is because they want their number of followers to be higher than the number of people they are following. Your significant other did not respond to your text saying, “Goodnight, baby”? It’s because you love them more than they love you! Before we ever had cell phones or computers, the only way to really be rejected was when you did not accept that chap's hand in marriage or that man you have been sending telegrams to in the army did not respond to your letter. We live in a day and age when we are unceasingly being rejected. We have to think twice before we even follow that person or like their photo because we don’t want to feel the sense of rejection.
2. It has replaced a true neighborhood.
We now spend our days walking around our neighborhoods with our heads buried into our electronic devices, communicating with people who are no more than 50 feet away from us. It is ridiculous to go ask your friend if they want a glass of lemonade because you can just text them instead, right? Do you remember the time you used to go to your friend’s house to play monkeys in a barrel or even just draw on their driveway with chalk? Yeah, I don’t think my baby cousin even knows what I am talking about. We used to be able to be so close to those surrounding us on a personal, face-to-face level, and now our faces only have relationships with our phones. Those were some of my favorite memories growing up, even if I just drew a flower on a driveway.
3. I only want to see my friend because I need a new picture to post. Is this backdrop good?
We have to take a picture when we get there! I really want to post this on Facebook and Instagram. I really hope Max sees what I am going to post today! We are so consumed with wanting people to notice us rather than just being in the present moment with people. You don’t want to go to the beach just to go to the beach because you need to have that fake laughing photo in the water that you are really pissed about because your friend got sand in your eye while trying to be cute by throwing water at you. We need to take a photo at the gym with our friend because we need the whole world to compliment us on our bodies and know that we are ahead of the fitness game, hashtag leg day. We focus so much on the world and the people who are not even with us in that present moment. We have to Snapchat this and put it on our story because, if we didn’t, did it even happen?
4. Our anxiety levels are rising, we assume too much, and we are becoming stressed over technology.
Text messages are being misconstrued every single day. Our significant others will text "I luv u 2" instead of "I love you." We assume that they are mad at us because why else would they say that? We are then so worried that we did something wrong that it is consuming our thoughts for the rest of the day. Your best friend always answers your phone calls, so when you call her and she doesn’t answer, you are assuming that you did something wrong. We post a picture on Instagram, and it is not getting enough likes. You wonder if maybe you posted it at the wrong time of the day. We worry about things that should not even be on our radar. You should be worrying if you made a good impression in your job interview, not if someone retweeted your tweet. But I mean, we have other things to take up our brain space, don’t we?
5. We can’t even have a conversation with our friends in person.
We are hiding behind our phones because it is easier to say what we really feel behind a screen instead of talking to that person face-to-face. A device that is supposed to propel our world forward has actually degraded a human’s ability to have social skills. It is easier for you to tell your friend off over the phone because you know that they won’t be able to counteract what you will say over text or on Facebook. You feel more powerful behind a screen than you would in person. You are more likely to say what you feel to your significant other over text because you will say more of what is on your mind than if you actually look the person in the face. When you are with your friends at dinner and you are trying to have a conversation with them and they are completely consumed into their phone, it makes you feel like they have something better to do. Your friends say more to you over text than when you both are actually together in person. You are at dinner now, and there is no more communication because that device in front of you has taken over your ability to speak. Communication with our friends has turned into text, and our ability to say how we truly feel in person has become non-existent.
