First off, I am a complete and total hypocrite for even trying to write this. Yeah, I'm gonna talk about cell phones. Look, it's actually insane how many aha-come-to-Jesus moments I have had about being on my phone too much. But what is even more insane is that I have ignored these painfully truthful realizations in one way or another almost every time. I think you and I have both read enough articles and statistics about the consequences of spending too much time on cell phones to understand that being addicted to our cell phones is not a good thing. But since I am in fact writing an article about cell phones, it would be wrong of me not to give you a few more scary cell phone addiction statistics to add to your list, right?
According to visualistin.com, the average American checks their cell phone 110 times a day. The average American also spends over 3 and a half hours a day on their phone. Half of America admits to feeling anxious and uncomfortable out in public when they forget their phone at home and 44% admit that they would have a "great deal of anxiety" without a phone for a week.
I have read these facts before and I wish I was more startled or unnerved by them. But the truth is none of it is really all the shocking anymore. Not only is it no longer shocking to anyone, but no one really cares. I have found that I no longer fight the urge to check my phone every 20 minutes or so. It has become "normal." And I think that's when it gets really dangerous. When things start to become accepted as normal there is no undoing it. But perhaps picking up the same device every single day 110 times or more and spending 3 and half hours plus on it is not all that normal? Should it be normal?
Call to mind TLC's hit television series My Strange Addiction. We all gawk and laugh at some of the people they find to put on that show, but the scary part is most of us could probably make it onto My Strange Addiction with the crazy amount of energy and time we spend on our phones. Just because most of us share the same addiction doesn't make it normal. That's probably why "My Normal Addiction" isn't really a thing.
We all come up with excuses for ourselves. I am guilty of it. A lot of us feel as if we would be "disconnected" from our friends and family if we didn't use our phone as much, but think about how connected with one another we might actually be if we did take more time to put our phones down. We spend hours scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and liking and commenting and reading and looking. But none of these apps or websites we spend so many hours on are actually even tangible. We can't even hold them in our hands. Basically, what I'm trying to get at is that those Snapchat streaks and stories and Instagram posts don't even really exist. They have no substance.
Now I know social media and cell phones can be used for good, but let's be honest with ourselves- look at all the hurt feelings and lost time we can never get back. And understand the complexes cell phones have caused. Should that be normal?
