Last Thursday as I was walking to my night class, I pulled out my phone to check my notifications and was greeted with a dark screen. I pressed the home button repeatedly, but all that flashed was the low battery symbol.
It's everyone's nightmare - a dead cell phone battery.
I sighed in distress as I made my way to class, annoyed that I was now unable look at memes on my short walk.
As this thought entered my mind, I immediately realized how undeniably petty this was; as years ago this wouldn't have been as big of an issue as it is now.
As I made my way back to my car after class, I observed the world around me. I heard the rush of cars and I observed the color of the street lights, noticing how one was slightly brighter than all the others. I passed by a convenience store and saw a happy, young couple with a newborn baby inside. I even shared a friendly smile with a stranger, possibly making their day brighter.
Our society has become one that values constant entertainment and instant gratification over the importance of observation. With our eyes glued to our devices, we miss the most simple things that we wouldn't normally notice while disregarding the earth's beauty around us.
As soon as we 'slide to unlock' our phones, we are disconnected from each other. We're pulled into an alternative state of thinking. With the advancement of technology, we're abusing it's power. While our phones were meant to bring us together, they seem to be pulling us apart at the same time.
It's true that recent technological advancements are helpful in certain ways, as one can be connect with a relative or friend who lives elsewhere. But once you're arguing with a stranger who lives in Finland over the internet, you may realize the damage that social media can do (and you should probably go do something else).
It's true that it's an addiction, as I've found myself pulling my phone out of my pocket every few minutes to check it, forgetting that it had a dead battery. It was as if I developed a reflex that any time I wasn't being amused by my surroundings, I wandered to my phone for relief.
We forget that there's an entire world right in front of our faces, a world that's filled with beauty and mystery. Yet, we scroll through social media in a desperate attempt to be entertained while the true entertainment resides in our surroundings.
It's gotten so bad that we can't even look at another human being while they're talking to us. But the worst part is, we text people who aren't with us while simultaneously being engaged in a conversation with the person across from us.
Is Instagram more important than the person you're currently with? If so, it may be time to find some new friends. Your phone will always be there - although the person sitting across from you may not be. When your phone dies, you can plug it in the wall, and it comes back to life. Yet when a human dies, that's it.
So why are we wasting our precious time with an inanimate object when the people near us are more important?
I guess it's true that if you give humans something good, we always want more.
