As a college student, I understand the daily struggle of feeling like my phone is an extension of my own hand. My phone is my ride or die and I have the internal conflict of wanting to check my Instagram feed when in class, with friends, at work or in various other social situations. I have recently realized the amount of time that college students, including myself, spend on their phone a day and how we should spend more time with each other.
We go to concerts and watch the whole thing behind the screen of our phone rather than our own eyes. We feel the need to Snapchat when we are in alone to show others how cool our lives are. We even text when we are with one another at dinner or just hanging out at each other house. This is something that needs to change but this is not even the biggest problem. We will avoid hanging out with each other by deciding to Facetime, Skype, text, or just play video games with each other and this is an issue.
Video chatting, texting, and different forms of messaging do not account for the social interaction we need. In 5 years from now will we remember laying in bed texting our friends while watching Netflix? Hell, will we even remember that in 5 days? The thing we will remember when we get older is experiences, no matter how small. When our spouse, kids, or friends ask about our college years, we will recall the memories we had that were influential. This may be going to a Post Malone concert or just a late night conversation you might have with your friends that were memorable.
Do not get me wrong, technology has been extremely helpful and has assisted many people keeping in contact when they normally would not. Having a phone helps me call my parents while I am in school 400 miles a day. I probably overuse that aspect since I call my dad at least 3 times a day just to chat. Nothing will outweigh face-to-face interactions though.
In order to fix the issue, we need to put down our phones and be in the moment. This can be done by putting our phones away for short periods and weaning ourselves off our addiction. Try going to dinner with friends and not touching your phone or spending an hour at home reading a book alone. After that try spending a whole day with the people you care about without looking at your phone to answer messages. It will force you to spend time with those around you and continue to form a lasting relationship with them.
The epidemic of our phone usage is something that can be easily fixed. The only problem is that is an addiction like any other dependency. In order to live in the moment and make good memories, we have to look beyond our phones and spend time with the people we care about most.
