Sometimes I wonder about how productive we would all be if we didn't have cellphones. I look around and I see students with books open but looking at their phones instead of their homework, and people scrolling through social media rather than communicating with one another in restaurants. But if I'm being honest, I am completely guilty of doing the same things every single day.

When I'm bored, the first thing I do is go on my phone. It's my go-to distraction when I'm doing homework or other responsibilities that may sometimes bore me. And although it's keeping me busy, it's distracting me from more productive things that I might be doing if I didn't have a phone, and that bothers me.

I can't help but think about how much work I would get done if I didn't have my phone, or what hobbies or knowledge I would have if I were forced to find other ways to fill my time. I think about how many conversations I would have if I didn't have my phone to resort to in awkward situations, or how much more "in-the-moment" I would feel if I spent more time looking up from the screen.

I don't know exactly what I would be doing with my time, but I know for a fact that I would be doing more productive things with it. So, I'm making a challenge to myself to live more in the moment and to not resort to my phone whenever I am bored or uncomfortable. Instead of scrolling on social media, I'll talk to the people sitting right next to me, and instead of playing games on my phone when I'm bored, I'll use that time to exercise, or get ahead on homework, or clean my room.

I can only imagine how much different my life and everyone else's would be if we didn't have cellphones. But I also know that I am in charge of how and when I use my phone. I am in control, and I am making it my new goal to limit the control that my phone has already begun to have over me.