Turn off your phone right now.
I’m serious. Turn it off completely right this very moment, and don’t just put it on silent like actually turn it off.
OK, now you might be feeling a little jittery without your iPhone in your hand fully functioning at this very moment and that is... not okay. Seriously why did we let ourselves get this way? I am the first one to admit that I love my phone. It's the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I look at each night. I love Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. I love the Kim Kardashian game (honestly, it’s so addictive). But do you know what I love more than my phone? My friends and family and taking the time to actually interact with them in person. Here is a challenge: go an entire day without your phone, and if that seems unimaginable take a second to think about how wrong that is. I can’t stand being in a room full of people more interested in their phones than the people they are with. Don’t text at dinner. Don’t text and drive. Do not even think about ignoring me to play on your phone when we are having a conversation. Life is too short to be so consumed by one piece of notecard-sized glass. Phones are great; they allow us to have the world at our fingertips. But don’t abuse that power because one day it might just be you and that phone left with no one to call. Phones are not more important than the people they connect you to. Use them to plan adventures with your friends, use them to take pictures to remember the good times, but do not use them as the good time.
Are you feeling a little better about your phone being turned off yet? Or did you just ignore my request the first time and you still have your phone on? Okay fine, but let me get real for a second. I am a summer day camp counselor for kids in 7th and 8th grade. Now these kids are prime suspects for phone overuse maybe due to the fact their phone may be new to them, but I’m guessing it's more so because they live on the internet. Here’s the real bummer for them though: we make them turn their precious phones into “phone prison” (i.e. an old animal cracker container) at the beginning of each day and they are not allowed to get it back until they leave. Now obviously the kids hate this rule but it is probably the best idea we have ever had because they are forced to just play. They are forced to interact with each other face to face and have real conversations and real summer fun. So, if 11 and 13-year-olds can spend a day without their phone, so can you.
Okay, you can turn your phone back on now, but only if you call someone important to you first thing.
