You missed that. And that too. There’s so much going on around you all the time and you’re missing it because you’re looking down at your phone and not up.
It’s so easy to get wrapped up in social media: tweeting, posting, snapping, that we tend to ignore our surroundings. We resort to our phones to avoid boredom and confrontation, but when we do so we’re taken away from reality. I for one, am guilty of this too. We are so caught up in trying to get the best angle for our Instagram photo that we miss the view itself.
Technology is evolving and although it is connecting us with people across the globe, it’s taking us away from the ones right beside us. You’re missing the moments that are priceless. When you walk into an elevator or an auditorium I guarantee that a majority of the people there are typing or scrolling away to pass time or avoid awkward small talk. Why not be that one person who initiates the conversation or decides to just admire the people surrounding you instead of resorting to your phone?
I dare you to go an hour without even looking at your phone, turn it off, not vibrate or silent, but actually off. Go three hours, go eight hours, go a day. Go an entire day without your cell phone and see what happens. The next time you see a firework show, don’t try to capture every firework from that impossibly small screen that we both know won’t do it justice. Actually watch the fireworks explode into radiant colors of orange and blues and drink in every second of that view.
The next time you set foot in an elevator, stand there and just admire life and have others wonder why you’re smiling. Ask the mailman how their day is going, go on a walk and actually smell the flowers, read a book instead of a Facebook post. Go on an adventure and leave your phone behind for once.
As Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/quotes
I know how tempting it is to cave in to the convenience of scrolling through social media until you’ve gone through every one of your apps. The thing about technology, though, is that it will always be there, but those minuscule moments spent with loved ones should be cherished because you might not get them twice. So yes, listen to your younger sibling explain prefixes and how much of a monumental moment it is to them or lay in the grass and just watch the clouds like a kid. Don’t get so far sucked into your phone that you miss these moments.
So look up, and live in the now.
