Take a minute to think about the amount of time you spend on your cell phone in a day.Texting, calling, listening to music, scrolling through Facebook and Twitter, playing mind numbing games like Flappy Bird and taking selfies on Snapchat consumes a good part of your day. And then there are those times when you unlock your iPhones out of boredom. According to an article on MailOnline.com, “Mobile users can’t go six minutes without checking their phones and check it up to 150 times a day.”Long story short, people are on their phones a lot--especially our generation. More often than not, it is just out of boredom.
But now there is something you can do free of charge and will be an excuse for you not to check your phone every six minutes. The charitable organization UNICEF is teaming up with their sponsor, Giorgio Armani, to help provide water for people in need. The Tap Project, launched in 2007, helps the “768 million people around the world without access to clean water.”
Here’s how it works. Go to tap.unicefusa.orgon your cell phone and follow the instructions. For every 10 minutes that you go without touching your phone while the website is open, the sponsors donate a day's worth of water to a person in need. During the time that you have the website open, UNICEF gives facts about the current water crisis and how you are helping.
This is an easy way for you to make a big difference without spending any money. Instead of texting during a 50 minute class you can leave the website open and provide clean water to people for five days. The time you spend watching Netflix, eating dinner or studying are also great opportunities for you to support this cause.
Every little bit counts, but the more people who participate the bigger the impact will be, so get your houses involved! The average sorority on the University of Illinois campus has over 150 girls, so if each girl stayed off her phone for 10 minutes per day they would be able to provide 150 days of clean water for people in need and not a dime will be spent. All the houses on campus are already philanthropic, so adding this should be a breeze.
Want to do more? Support the Water For The World Act. The difference that individuals have made to help provide clean water is amazing, but in order to take the next step it is important to get the government involved. Find the act on the main Tap Project page under the“Be An Advocate” menu and sign it to show your support.
In the 40 minutes that it has taken for me to write this article I was able to provide four days of water just by having my phone sit on the table. So the next time you have your phone charging over night or on silent when you’re in class, consider taking the time to support UNICEF.
