Chances are, you're reading this article right now from the tiny screen of your phone. You scrambled around, searching for just the right WiFi connection before scrolling aimlessly through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You sent a few Snapchats, deleted junk emails, and sent a few heart emojis to your mom before class started. You checked the balance on your ever-declining debit card, watched the trailer for that new rom-com coming out, and made a few memes with funny dog pictures. You checked the weather, set your alarm for your nap, and googled the lyrics to the song stuck in your head.
Does that about cover it?
While you were doing all of those things on that phone of yours, life was going on around you. People were getting engaged, getting promoted, getting fired. Others were cooking dinner for their families, seeing movies, or volunteering. Some were (paying attention) in class, getting advanced degrees, or writing the next great novel. Some were laughing with friends, exploring new cities, or learning how to ride a bike.
I'm just as guilty as anybody of spending too much time on my phone. Waiting for class to start: I'm checking Instagram. Waiting on line at a store: I'm sending a text to my friends. Watching a movie: I'm playing a game on my phone. It's truly a terrible habit. I can't count the number of times I've been eating lunch or dinner with my friends, and we're all sitting there, not speaking, because we're all too busy stalking our cousin's best friend's boyfriend's little sister on Twitter three years back.
This isn't some holier-than-thou message that you should stop using your phone because we millennials get a bad rap for being absorbed with technology. If you want to use your phone, by all means, go for it.
The point of this is, there is so much life to be lived outside that little phone screen of yours. Being mindful and present in the moment is such an underrated skill in this generation. I've noticed since being abroad that most people I pass on the street are far more concerned with getting the best picture of the Duomo than actually appreciating where they are and what they're seeing. Likes on Instagram appear to be more important than the memories you could be making. You might go home with a Facebook photo album full of pictures, but will you even recognize those pictures in a few weeks?
It's hard to distance yourself from technology, especially when basically the entire world is accessible at your fingertips within mere seconds. Technology has done some great things for us and has truly revolutionized the way we communicate and live our lives. However, we're at risk of losing sight of the simple, most important things in life if we continue to lose ourselves in our phones. There's a whole world out there. All you need to do is look up.
