Every day, we walk around with small computers in our pockets, in our hands, or somewhere on our person at all times. We may forget our keys and our wallets, but we have our phones to call whoever we need to help us out. From that aspect, phones and technology rock. They're crazy helpful in regards to connecting to people and getting things done, no matter where you're at.
The issue comes up when the device that is made to connect you to others keeps you from doing that exact thing. You know the cheesy rom-com movie plot where two adorably awkward strangers bump into each other in a coffee shop and live happily forever? There is no way that it could happen now. When I buy my Starbucks, I have my headphones in, boss-face on, and I am not there to make friends. I will scroll through whatever app is on my phone to avoid any chances of awkward exchanges. In the moment, it seems awesome. In retrospect, how are you supposed to meet your rom-com protagonist? If anything, you might meet your new best friend, someone who could change your life for the better, or someone who could teach you a lesson. From that perspective, we are avoiding what could possibly be the biggest catalyst of our lives by living through our phones.
Speaking as someone who is guilty of this, living through technology is safe and exciting. I am able to control the environment to some extent and I am able to take some extra time to think through what I'm about to do and say. We can make ourselves sound fantastic online, but variability comes into play when we have to actually interact. We can experience so many beautiful things and learn so much with our smartphones, but it's starting to get in the way of actually experiencing things.
Over the last week, I quit carrying around a phone charger and tried to ward off the mini panic of a dying a phone. I honestly felt liberated. I felt like I was able to remember more of what my friends were talking about and I was able to have deeper conversations. That's not to mention that I was able to get so much more work done. Other than having to fix my sleep cycles, I felt that I was so much more aware and hurt when other people would constantly be on their phones when talking to me.
I would be lying if I didn't say that I had thought about not having some people in my life because it simply felt awful having a conversation with them. I knew that they didn't mean to hurt my feelings like that, but it made me mad. At one point, the friend who I was talking to, who was scrolling on their phone the whole time I was talking, started talking about whatever they were looking at when I had paused for them to answer the question that I just asked them. I love to see the best in people, but it was rude.
We only have so much awake time in a day. We only have so much time with the people around us. The Internet will be there, social media will be there, and all of the websites and pages will be there. However, if we get too wrapped up in all of that, the people physically around us will eventually be gone. On that note, I think that I can let the "perfect selfie" lighting go to waste in order to spend time with the people who I want to keep in my life. I just want to get my face out of my phone.
