“What did you say? What was that? Huh? What?” The number of times that I have heard these phrases is becoming too numerous to count. The glazed-over eyes, the quick-moving fingers, the eyes darting from side to side; the symptoms are always the same.

They sting - each half-hearted answer, quizzical glance, or outright silence cuts a little deeper each time. Everyone has this disease in some form or another because it’s an addiction. Nomophobia: fear or anxiety associated with not being on the “cellular grid”.

Everyone checks their phone from time to time. People walk between classes with their earbuds in, music up, checking game updates or exam scores, etc. Checking one’s phone is not the problem, however. The problem is the dependency that having a phone creates. This illusion of escape. Playing games, checking social media, and watching shows are all ways to supposedly “escape” reality.

Everything is immediate, easy to access. Technology is a wonderful thing until it begins to eat away real relationships, real-time, and real money. We’re only given so much time, we only make so much money, and we only have so many real relationships; why do we insist on obsessively Snapchatting, or playing Candy Crush or whatever the newest fad is?

We spend money on games in virtual realities that are nothing - we pay for nothing. App creators make millions of dollars because people spend real money on fake money to use in games. To the people I’m losing, I want to tell you that it isn’t too late, just put down the phone and your life will automatically be better.

To the people I’m losing, I’m sorry but I can’t tell you this. Each "huh," each "what," and every time I speak and hear no response, grinds more glass into the wound.

I want to tell you that you can make up for lost time, but lost time can never be found again. Each second is precious, so spend them talking with the ones you love, not glued to your phone. Technology connects people who can be oceans apart, but we can’t let technology disconnect us from the people sitting right next to us.