First off, I would like to make it clear that this is not intended to completely criticize anyone with a smartphone. It is not a call to action to ban smartphones from our lives. You may take this as either a suggestion or a warning. Keep in mind, I also own a smartphone and do not regret that decision. However, we cannot live our lives hidden behind some small screen that we carry around in our pockets.
Smartphones have become an impersonal way of traveling through life. Although we are able to share moments with others through social media, taking a video or picture of something special means that are eyes are drawn to our phones. It causes us to miss out on witnessing a moment with our own eyes. Would you rather watch something exciting on television or be there to see it for yourself? Although we are there in person, our smartphones create a wall blocking us from the real world.
How do you think a bride and groom feel when they pay a photographer only to find out that half of the video shows their family and friends on their smartphones? Raising their phones as the bride walks down the aisle might block the photographer from doing the job that he or she was paid to do. A professionally taken video would look better than a video captured on a smartphone anyway, so why take yourself away from a special event that someone you care about has invited you to?
Because of the constant rush of social media posts every single day, we feel obligated to keep up with everyone. By creating accounts on social media websites, it becomes a mild obsession to constantly check on what people have posted. Maybe it started out as a way to pass the time. Soon, looking at a smartphone became a way to avoid uncomfortable or awkward situations. Smartphones began to serve as a safety blanket for us to just look down at in order to escape the place that we were actually in.
To all the smartphone users that feel the need to check social media every hour, know that it is truly nobody’s business what happens during your everyday life. If your day was unexpectedly amazing, then feel free to tell friends and family about it. Upload pictures and wait for people to comment on them. However, do not feel like it is a necessity to update everyone on your life. There is no timer that goes off to announce when it has been too long since your last social media update. Smartphones give us the capability to check social media whenever we please. This gives us less to talk about with our friends when we actually get the chance to hang out in person.
Smartphones are not all bad, however. We can use them as a GPS when we are lost. All of our music can be stored on these phones. We can also keep in touch with loved ones who are too far away to see every day. Being constantly connected, however, can take us away from the moment that we are truly living in. So, while you keep in touch with those you care about, don’t forget to keep in touch with the world as well. Look up from that screen that has become your comfort zone and embrace the little things that you might not have noticed.
