Good morning! The sun is shining into your bedroom and you can hear the birds chirping. Instead of taking in the environment around you, you reach for your phone and check on everything you missed while you were asleep – I understand, a lot can happen in eight hours. This is a daily occurrence for the majority of people, but specifically teenagers and students.

We are lucky enough to live in a world where you have such easy access to phones. You can talk to a person on the opposite side of the globe, video chat with your family who lives in a different country and even become friends with people you have never met face to face. Every day I can hear from friends back home – over eight hundred miles away – something that was not possible not too far ago. All this connection is due to something that our grandparents think is going to destroy the world and our doctors think is going to destroy our brains: technology.

In a world where we are so overly connected, why is it that we feel so disconnected? Days seem impossible without our phone at our fingertips, and to an extent, they are. We are so accustomed to going to Google to find the answer or posting on Instagram to see how popular we are. Technology is such a widespread occurrence in our day to day life that it seems nearly impossible without a phone in your hand. But life can not truly be lived behind a screen – a genuine human connection is required.

Before the internet, to find information a person had to go into a reference book or encyclopedia. Before the internet, the only means of communication was face to face or over phones that resembled bricks. Before the internet, life was more simplistic, but simplicity does not translate into better. Technology has allowed society to become more connected; however, it has limited our understanding of not only ourselves but also each other.

When is the last time you had a meaningful conversation with a person face-to-face? The answer may be difficult. It is easier to talk to people when a screen if between you which is why we feel so disconnected. Phones have detached us from reality. People need face-to-face conversations to succeed in life. Texting, calling, e-mailing and direct messaging are all easy and practical, but not necessary. Instead of using technology to enhance our interactions with one another, we use technology as the primary form of interaction. It has come to a point where people will be right next to each other and insist on texting as opposed to actually talking.

Communicating with other people through a phone screen is simple and easy; however, if you do not talk in person, it will never get easier. The truth is, technology has replaced a human connection with an artificial form of communication that isolates us as a society. The only way to fix this problem is by making a change in your behavior. Use your phone less and talk more. Who knows, maybe you will learn something new about a person you have known forever along the way.