So... How long have you been on your phone today?
Come on, answer honestly.
Yeah, that's what I thought. A pretty good while huh? Me too.
It never really occurred to me to think of this, until I noticed other people doing it. Know what I mean? Look around. Almost everyone has a cell phone, and almost all of those cell phones are smart phones. We can easily connect to thousands of people, news articles, pictures, etc. by just a few taps on our phone screens. But answer this question for me, are we really in tune with the world this way?
A couple of days ago I was dropping a girl off to her school when I saw behind me a mother driving her daughter to school. I flashed back for a second to the days when my mom used to take me to school. Those early morning car rides hold so many memories for me, from singing to the radio with her, to getting coffee before school, and even to deep conversations about our lives. I loved car rides with my mom. They were pieces of quality time and wonderful memories that I didn't even know we were making together. But as I glanced in my review mirror at this family, all I could see was that they were on their phones. I continued to glance back every now and then, and nothing changed. Not once did I see them talk. Not once did I even see them look at each other.
Is this really the world that we live in? Or are we really even "living" in it anymore? To me, it seems like we're slowly becoming more and more invested in the virtual world than in reality.
I am a college student, so I honestly have no room to talk. I am constantly on my phone, switching between apps like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat...you name it I probably have it. It's almost like an automatic thing now. I wake up, check my phone, go to the bathroom and play on my phone, sit down on the couch and watch TV (while texting and snapchatting of course)...I think you all get the idea. The truth is, I never really am without my phone. There are sometimes that my family has dinner together and we put our phones up then, but that's usually it.
And honestly, it saddens me. I'm addicted to my phone, just like I think many of us are.
One of my professors in college challenged us to put away our phones for the next class period. We couldn't look at it at all. Though it wasn't the easiest task (because I mean, come on... do we really pay attention in class the whole time?) it did make me stop and be in the world for a second. It made me realize how unimportant all that stuff is, and how it IS important that we take time to invest in people, IN PERSON.
Step back from your phone. Put it down. Take a break from it for a while, and really live. You're not defined by the amount of likes you get on your photo of that selfie that you took over and over again and then edited just to get it to look "good enough." You're not just that clever tweet that you thought of that got retweeted by over 50 people.
You are a living and breathing human being. So go out and live. Take the time to tell someone in person that you love them. Instead of taking a picture with them, go out and actually spend the day doing things with them.
Disconnect from the virtual world, and connect to the real one.
