The other day I dropped my smart phone out of a car and I can’t say I’m mad…Ok yea, when I first tried to turn the screen on only to realize it wouldn’t let me press anything…well, that was a little distressing…but only for a few minutes. I came inside the house and felt this unexpected release. Suddenly I was present again. A week later and I’m still in the process of getting the phone back, but in the meantime I’ve reverted back, all the way back to the flip phone. And let me tell you something, it’s absolutely amazing.
If you’re anything like me, or most other millennials, the smartphone has become less of a phone and more of an alternate reality. One in which faces are edited, moments are snapped and forgotten, and distractions are ever possible. A reality where there is no need for awkward silences, for boredom on buses, or for uncomfortable eye contact in social situations. The smartphone has become our shield in a way. Our mask to a world we don’t find as easy as a handheld device.
And perhaps this alternate reality can be helpful. After all, it’s given us the ability to have all our questions and curiosity’s answered in seconds, driven us to our appointments in directions unfamiliar, and photographed our memorable moments with the click of a button. It’s connected us with people we otherwise would not be able to connect with. And surely, it’s given us Apps to help us tune a guitar or count a calorie. Everything we believe we need, all wrapped up in one chargeable device…
But tell me something; with all this convenience, when’s that last time you researched an answer on your own and had the feeling of success when you found it? When’s the last time you drove somewhere just to get lost and find your own adventure? Or how about the last time you had an amazing, memorable, beautiful day or moment and didn’t take a single picture. Rather you took mental images and felt every sensation around you.
We live in a generation of screens rather than feelings. We sit in public spaces and don’t smile at each other anymore; to immersed in the vanity of our other realities. Sitting with our loved ones and not saying a word, to busy checking our notifications. Looking around do you even see eyes anymore? Laughter without a selfie? People doing something just to do it, not to record it? When’s the last time you showed up somewhere spontaneously rather than through a Yelp review? A time when the first thing you did when you woke up in the morning was breath rather than check the feed?
Without my smartphone I find myself without FOMO, without the anxiety of checking updates, emails and Facebook opinions every free second. I notice myself filling my time with more memorable things, doing things just to do them and following my own sense of direction, rather than the one Google Maps gave me. Without my smartphone I find myself making calls and seeing faces, rather than typing long and emotionless texts. I find myself content in my ways, in my surroundings and in my current situation. And honestly, I’m not sure if when the phone gets repaired ill even want to switch back…
