There is a plague that is sweeping the nation. I have the disease. It is always on my mind and it is with me everywhere I venture. What is the plague? It's the cell phone. Symptoms include but are not limited to: loss of concentration, bruises (because you were not paying attention and ran into that desk), procrastination, and loss of participation in conversations.
Among these symptoms, the one I fear most for myself and my generation is the loss of conversation participation. I am constantly drawn into my phone to check my snap stories, email, Instagram, and a collection of others. You name it and I will check it, like it, refresh it, or do whatever the proper verb is to it. It is a problem and it is consuming our era.
Our parents used to never leave the house without a tube of lipstick or their Walkman. We can't seem to venture anywhere outside of our bedrooms without our cell phones. I mean, come on, we obviously have to refresh our Twitter feed while we use the restroom, duh. Our phones are attached to us. Wherever we go, they go. I do not think Steve Jobs anticipated that a 6-inch device would become the better part of a generation's best friend.
The cell phone detaches me from actual relationships and real conversations. It gives us the illusion of living in two worlds—one in your hand and one on planet earth. Living in more than one universe is quite a taxing business. When you try to chat about that ridiculous chemistry test with your friend, Maggie, you are also concerned with that insta that Chance just posted. (Omg Maggie, can you believe he took a picture with HER??)
This plague is a plague defined by distraction. We cannot be fully invested in a conversation with a tangible human when we are texting another human, and vice versa. Each one distracts us from the other, and what is the benefit in that? Therefore, I propose that we put our phones away when we go out anywhere with our friends or when we study. We would get infinitely more work done, and we would garner a more genuine quality out of every experience.
The plague is ravaging our society. Stop and look all around you, the next time you visit a public place. There is evidence of it in the palm of a majority of people's hands and I hate it. I hate my phone and I hate the way it takes so much from my life, when it is supposed to connect me to life.
