Screens and faces and faces in screens. Adults are determined to blame phones for the social upheaval of the new generation, but truth is, there are a lot of good reasons to look down at your handheld connection to the world.
Although, there are also a lot of good reasons to look up.
Look up because that sunset right in front of you doesn’t have a filter like the ones on Instagram. The hues of golden yellow and orange are as pure as the naked eye will ever witness.
Look up because someone next to you might want to say something in more than 140 characters. They might need a listening ear and an open heart to not place limits on their words.
Look up because telling someone you love them when you gaze into their eyes is not as easy as a goodnight “luv u 2” text sent when you're already half-asleep.
Look up because you might meet someone and hear their story, the type of story that you surely can’t find on Snapchat.
Look up because the brightness of your screen is nothing compared to the sun in your eyes and the way it spreads a shiver of warmth and bliss throughout your body.
Look up because you might miss the music of the world, a melody that isn’t found on Spotify. The crunch of leaves, the softness of the breeze, the thrashing waves as they meet the shore for the first time.
Look up because the world doesn't need a 300-second snap story of the concert you are at, nor do they need a play-by-play of your life. Leave some mystery in the adventures that you take.
Look up because if you check a weather app in inquiry of when the rain will stop, you might miss getting caught in it. You might miss out on that spectrum of colors that emerges from the cloudy gaze in the most breathtaking array.
Look up because those Facebook quizzes won’t actually predict your future, and it’s your job to create your own “secret long-lost twin” or “next relationship.”
Look up because your Time-Hop will only remind you of your past immaturity, and you might miss out on new ways to grow up.
Look up because the time on your phone clock never stops, neither does your clock on life. It’s small collections of big moments that eat up the minutes and hours in the most honest way.
Look up because staring at your phone in the presence of company absolutely negates the concept of having company in the first place.
Look up because you might capture an innate act of kindness or a moment of comedy before someone makes a 6 second Vine out of it.
Look up because telling someone that you find them beautiful in person is much more of a compliment that swiping right on their over-edited selfie.
Look up because you have the opportunity to find the importance living in the now before the trending hashtags explain it for you in simplistic fragments.
Look up because what fills your camera roll are a collection of memories that can only be created by being out in the world and living.
Look up because in the most ironic way, you are being less connected by looking down.
