On a drizzly Thursday morning, my already beaten and cracked phone suffered an exposure to the elements that not even a bag of rice could fix. It wasn’t until two weeks later that I received the replacement. During my hiatus from the land of instant communication and constant buzzing noises emanating from my ass pocket, I noticed a few things…

1. When you have have your face super-glued to the screen of a tiny little device, you miss both the simple and complex pleasures of daily life. I realized that I could describe my lock screen wallpaper better than I could the spectacular oranges, reds, and yellows of the autumn trees outside my window.

2. Logistics have become impossible. Planning something concretely with your friends more than a couple hours before meeting up is more or less unheard of.

3. I could actually focus in class, engage in conversation, and wonder of wonders, I was more productive and procrastinated less. Which meant I had way more time to relax and sleep!

4. People are frequently having multiple conversations at a time, and I used to do this too. While in the middle of a real face-to-face conversation, so many people would pull out their phones to either text someone in a different conversation, check their social media updates, or simply scroll through whatever apps caught their attention...why is this an acceptable thing? It's rude, and hurtful to whoever you're hanging out with in real time.

5. People avoid awkward silences in social settings by pulling out their phones, making the silence that much more awkward, instead of just saying something sociable the break the silence...awkward, right?

6. Selfies are not cute. You look ridiculous. Honestly. The picture itself may be nice, and your Instagram followers may praise you in likes and shares, but my eyes are currently bleeding from watching you pose, duck-face, and try to adjust the lighting angle in the freaking dining hall for the past 20 minutes. Seriously? Your food is probably cold now.

7. The baby boomers think we are nuts and they stare at us with disbelief and anger whenever we have our phones at the dinner table...we just don’t notice it because we are looking at our phones.

8. We’ve become completely useless navigators. But really, can anyone go anywhere without the mobile Google maps app anymore?

9. There is no more spontaneity or mystery. Sure there is something awesome about being able to look everything up at the touch of a button, but there is also something to be said about wandering into things blindly and just going with it.

10. No smiley face emoji can ever make up for a genuine laugh or hug from someone you care about.

So next time you’re on your way to class, or to get coffee with a friend, or to grab dinner with a significant other, or to have a meeting with an advisor or peer mentor, shut off your phone. You’ll realize that the people and natural life around you is far more enthralling and beautiful than this digital fantasy that businesses have conditioned you into thinking you can’t live without. Leave your phone at home. Take time to notice the colors of autumn leaves, laugh hysterically with a dear friend, smell the ocean, actually pay attention to all the people who pass you on the sidewalk, look at their faces...the world you observe around you, when you look at it with undistracted eyes, may surprise you.