Dear You,
I applaud you for being tech savvy; in a world like the one we operate in today, being technologically advanced is a blessing. It's a safety, and automatic towards connections, saving time, and just simply getting the job done. Count this blessing and use it to your advantage. It's there for a reason.
But like many things that find us joy, it can also find us pain. Pain that we don't even know exists until it's too late; until it all hits us straight in the face and we’re sitting on the ground looking up wondering how we didn't see it sooner.
You see, while you're intensely staring at the screen in front of you the people you love are making memories without you. Sure, you're probably doing something worthwhile on that cellphone of yours but so are they, and chances are they'll be more proud of how they spent their night.
Take me for example. I’m sitting in another room scrolling through my phone and typing this up as the rest of my family are laughing away playing card games in a separate room. We’re on vacation and I can't seem to put my phone down. It's not like I’m not having fun without it; I'm just so used to clicking the side button of my iPhone to see the time, notice if anyone has texted me, or see if anyone has hit me up on any social media outlet. I looked up the time two minutes ago and I'm finding myself in habit doing again. I don't even need to know the time.
Today, at the beach, I watched a girl about my age nearly trip over a bunch of shells because she was too busy glancing at her phone alongside the rest of her friends. She's probably the most observant and outgoing person out there for all I know, but within the next few minutes I looked over again and the whole group made a circle together, all looking through their phones as well. None of them bothered to talk or look up at each other. There was a beautiful ocean right next to them, the waves trying to grab their feet.
The more I witness it around me, the more I witness it in me. I'm not here to tell you that you should get off your phone because you're worse than me. There's a strong likelihood that I’m worse than you. What I’m trying to get at is that you're just like me. You feel disconnected from the outside world. We human beings can't leave anywhere without our phones. And if we forget them, it seems to be the end of the world.
It's one thing to disconnect and it's another thing to feel disconnected. The more you feel this way, the more you feel alone. You could have all the coolest gadgets in the world and still not feel the worth of yourself and the beautiful people around you.
Technology is a blessing and a curse. It's a great way to stay connected, but a little bit too much and you're suddenly disconnected from the loved one sitting across the dinner table. The camera on your phone is a great way to capture memories but sometimes it steals the memory instead,
leaving you taking too many pictures and not enjoying the moment. One half a step too far and you just lose what you were wanting. Sure, the technology around us is a blessing, but it's also a curse.
You don't always get the truth behind a computer screen. You can lie about anything, pulling rumors from out of the sky and taking your time in text. Why are we scared of face-to-face conversations? We’re afraid of time. If you were talking to me in person, I can't pretend I didn't get the message until later. I can't take back what I said and retype it. I have to live in the moment. And for some of us, that's a big step.
So use the tech placed before you and love it, but don't let it control you. Tweet away in your free time and catch up with family members on Facebook but don’t get detached from the outside world because the inside world is suddenly your new comfort zone. Use this gift in moderation. Memories are made from looking up and smiling, not just living in your bubble and typing, LOL.
Life is worth living, so get connected, but in the right way.
Love always,
the girl who is finally putting down her iPhone
