Cell phones and technology are rad as hell. There are apps for mundane tasks like how to tie knots, apps to lead you to the nearest Starbucks for a cup of coffee, and even a few apps to find a date that will buy that coffee for you. Apps of this nature all cool feats of engineering and are arguably beneficial towards humanity.
Most people probably have zero recollection of the last day spent without a cell phone, which can make someone feel incompetent when it comes to succeeding unassisted at everyday tasks, and may be paired with guilt, due to privilege. However, once gratitude is accounted for, there is an endless stream of information in that chunk of metal in your pocket. Yay technology. The ability to be an expert on just about anything is only few simple searches away.
All of these cool things accounted for, it can still be difficult to take a break from the phone when it’s most necessary. It’s not a new notion that social media has had a negative effect on our daily social interactions. Standing in line, waiting for class to start, or a lull in conversation, a cell phone appears in your hand and the scrolling begins without a second thought. Yikes.
For a multi-generational interview for his book Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari brought together a group of 20-somethings, and their parents. The parents all mingled about and chatted amongst themselves, while the millennials all stood nearby one another and proceeded to stand on their phones; their half of the room was completely silent. Our comfort zones are being restricted to a four-inch, retina-display touch screen.
Consider, for a moment, the other seven billion people on this planet. There are too many people to meet and learn about to get stuck behind the safety net of your phone all of the time. Conversing with a stranger was a norm when the world was cell-phone and social-media-free, but that’s generally not the case anymore. It has become awkward, uncomfortable, and some may say unnecessary, with all of the friends you could need in the palm of your hand Sure, all of the people on your phone know and like you, but there may be more fun, interesting, and new people within 10 feet of you at any given moment. Having a physical presence is easy, but having a mental one has become the true challenge.
Even celebrities like Kendall Jenner are creating rules to avoid using cell phones when they’re with friends; whenever the starlet is out to eat with a group, all of the phones get stacked at one end of the table, taking away the enticement of a notification’s buzz or ring.
Clearly this is not a plea to toss your phone into the lake, just a plea to take a pause, be present, and maybe strike up a conversation with the stranger in line next to you, instead of scrolling through Instagram for the twelfth time that day. Start the conversation. Life is much more fun and rewarding to live on the edge. Push your own and others’ comfort zones before they shrink into a space as small as the pixels on your iPhone’s retina display screen.
