It’s so funny how people going looking for life or opportunities. Then people will say, “you will waste your life looking.” The thing is, life isn’t wasted when it’s lived in. But it’s definitely not lived in our phones.
Have you ever noticed your happiest moments? Do you ever pick up your cellphone and take a picture of a moment? (probably all the time you’ll say) What I mean is, like when you’re sitting with your family at the dinner table and it’s about eleven o’clock at night. You’re playing a card game, and maybe there’s a cake being passd around and shared with your family. They’re laughing at your younger brother because he’s got a new girlfriend.
This sweet moment is something that is gentle, and isn’t lived through in the social media world.
What about the moment you scored winning the final goal in that soccer game, was your phone on the field with you? Were you running down the field and thinking about how great that moment was that you wish you had Snapchat? Probably not.
What I’m trying to get at here is this need to podcast our lives at every moment. What if by doing so, we are taking the joy out of life?
Conversations start to run empty. There are a few times when I used to be on Snapchat and would post a story of a really good meal I enjoyed. I would hang out with my best friend either that day or later that week, and I would say “Hey, I had the most amazing slice of pizza,” and she would say, “yeah, I know I saw it on Snapchat.”
I just don’t get why people need to share their life with the world, like the next time you see your friend, it’ll make a great story. Also, by not going on social media it’ll also help you heal wounds if you had problems with an ex. All in all, sometimes sharing is not caring.
Do you ever wonder why when you spend time with your friends, half of them are on it? What if it isn’t the fact we’re on our phones because we’re addicted and need to know what’s going on, but what if it’s because we’re bored?
The conversations are miniscule. Like when you read a book, are you broadcasting each line or sentence uttered? In class, students are on their phones, but when it’s a super interesting class I haven’t seen a person pick up their phone once. For example, I took an Animal Rights class where no one was on their phone, because the professor was amazing and the material was quite fascinating. We had an open discussion each class and there were no tests or papers. Then there was this other class I took, Food Dynamics in Society and legit half the class was on their laptop, scrolling through Facebook or reading irrelevant articles. This class had about two assignments a week and the class was mostly lecture.
The students were bored. Yet, there are these awesome moments, like when you’re winning that point on the soccer field, where you don’t even want your phone. You’re just super driven about scoring that point. Maybe you do end up taking your phone and sharing your goal with the world afterwards, but it’s different than interrupting seconds before you’re about to score that goal.
It’s different than taking your phone out to share your uncle’s punchline about your younger brother before it’s been said.
So much of our life is dependent on our phones, but so much of our life isn’t. Maybe we just need to slow down and realize that life isn’t on our phones. It’s in front of us and next to us. Living life is not jumping out of a plane or writing a book. We have to stop looking for these great moments, because we’re living life just by reading or breathing.
Living life is about waking up and existing. When someone tells you to live your life, you just tell them about all the moments your phone can’t catch because it is in those moments. Obviously, I’m not saying you’re not living while looking at your phone, a phone is a great device. It has great qualities, I for one can’t go a day without checking my email. Once I’m done an interview, I call my mom to tell her about how crappy or awesome it went.
I’m just saying, life doesn’t exist in a phone. It exists outside of it, and if you’re bored and feel the need to look at your phone, then think about what you’re doing at the moment and think about whether or not your actions or the people around you are what you want in life.
I hope you take what I have shared into consideration, and think about the next time you pick up your phone. Think about why you’re picking it up, whether it’s to text your friend back or it’s because you have nothing better to do. There is a fine line between both of these instances. I hope for yourself, you figure it out.
