From a young age, we (as in the majority of first world societies) have been taught that time flies, so to speak. The minutes go slow but the years go fast; don’t blink, or you just might miss it. We hear “it seems just like yesterday…” from anyone over the age of 15 on a regular basis; we’re told to stop wishing our time away, to quite waiting for to turn 16 or 18 or 21 or 30 or 55, for one day, we will want the years we spent just trying to get by to be the only years we have left.
We are constantly warned to live in the moment, to experience everything first-hand, to open our eyes to what is right in front of us- and I, personally, couldn’t agree more. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. But, when you think about it, no one really follows these unsaid rules. We try, but don’t succeed. We let what we thought was our greatest strength to be our biggest weakness.
We live through the lens of our phones.
Smartphones have become another attachment to our bodies; some use it more than a hand or a foot. And I know the disadvantages of technology have been preached and prodded for years now, but with this take, it’s different.
We resort back to technology for the ease is places on our lives. When you live away from the people you love, a 30 minute FaceTime saves you a five-hour trip. A brigade of emails gives me three extra hours that-- 25 years ago-- would have been spent driving back and forth, waiting on the people I need to talk to get my job done. A Facebook friend request allows me a 45-minute working lunch instead if meeting up with my high school prom date to get coffee.
Put it in these terms and it is no wonder as to why we depend upon a wifi signal. The time we have been warned to watch ever so closely is suddenly saved by a 10-minute Google search or a quick text.
But what we don’t notice with the time we save, is how much we actually waste.
Family dinners are interrupted by the familiar buzz of a business call; a young mom was so worried about getting her baby’s first steps on camera that she missed seeing them with her own eyes.
We didn’t actually see Aerosmith’s last-ever live performance, but by God, we have an extremely low-qual Snapchat that we will never view again to make up for it. You didn’t get to speak to the former First Lady - instead, there’s a selfie with your right eye and her left earring that no one can even make out. Close enough, right?
Wrong. Man has become a tool of his tools, (Thoreau could predict the future, change my mind) and no one seems to care despite how much we miss because of it.
Be present. Watch. Listen. Speak. Live life through your own eyes, not on your phone. Observe the world around you, care about the people besides you. Get that coffee, buy pit tickets for your favorite band, take the car ride with your nephew. These are the times you’ll love and cherish and remember, not the 47 tweets you sent out highlighting the Cavs game.
I only have one life- I’ll be damned if I waste it on an iPhone.
