Today we are living in a society born and raised on smart technology. Almost everyone –– from your little brother in the first grade with his tablet to your grandparents sending Snaps from their home in Florida –– is connected. Even though television sets, computers and cellphones have been been around for some time now, new services and applications are coming out everyday. While twenty years ago it would have been rare to see someone with a cell phone, today it would be rare to see someone without one.
Cell phones, mobile phones and smart phones make some things in life easy. They are a mode of quick, efficient and constant communication. Cell phones connect people no matter who the person is, no matter their age, race or where they live. Now I know we have all read the posts about how our society is too consumed in our phones, and how we miss out on the real world because of how deeply our faces have been sucked into our screens. To some extent I’m sure all of us believe this to be true. Our phones are easy access to social media, where all of our friends and family are, and where our enemies are too.
This desire to connect through modes our devices provide is the most widely accepted addiction that I see in this generation. We find this comfort in our social media accounts, and we find affirmation through retweets, re-blogs, replays, comments, shares, likes and follows. I dropped my phone about two weeks ago, since then it has been unresponsive, and at first I thought I was going to go insane.
No more connection, no more me right? If I didn’t take the picture or share the moment was it worth it for me to have gone out of my way to do this or that? My outfit, my make up, is it worth it to spend the time to do it if I’m not going to be posting a picture later? How will people see me, and know that I’m doing everyday things? How can I make myself feel glorified and special without my phone glued to my palm?
I think that social media and constant communication was how I found my self worth. And I’ve noticed that I am not the only one. Although it was significantly difficult not to be able to text my boyfriend or friends I realized that I was worrying less and less about needing to find self-approval through them. Of course I still found other ways to communicate with the people in my life, but in the meantime it opened up my eyes to how much life I wasted on my phone. Without my phone in my face I’ve noticed everyone else's phone in theirs.
At dinner in a restaurant with friends, in class while the professor is lecturing, sitting with someone in a car, being with your date at a party. Everyone is ignoring the world around them. Phones are out everywhere. And everyone is looking for immediate and mass approval. But it never seems to be enough. These applications are being abused and overused, and we are subconsciously neglecting our own well being.
Being without a phone has made me wonder why I cared so much that my boyfriend has not texted me back within an hour, or why I felt annoyed when no one SnapChatted me, or why hasn’t this awesome picture I posted thirty minutes ago only have fifteen likes? Being without a phone has made me realize that none of that actually matters at all.
Once I started to stop finding my self worth and looking for approval through the realm of cell phones, I stopped missing having a phone. And I started to actually appreciate the things that I do day to day without having to share them constantly on whatever platform I would have two weeks ago. My confidence in myself has gone up because I’m not constantly looking for approval through others. I also think my communication with my friends has become better and more efficient because it is face to face.
Now, I know it’s really not practical to make it without a phone these days. So I am working on getting a new one here soon. But in all honestly, I’m in no hurry to do this. When I do eventually get my new phone I am going to practice smart and healthy ways of communication and social media usage. Phones are great and impressively advanced, but I challenge myself and you to put down your gadget and start living your life –– and to stop posting about it.
