I couldn't actually give my total cellphone usage up for two days, otherwise, my mother would call the police and I'd get in trouble. So I texted her every day, as I normally do, and I did use my cellphone as an alarm.
But for two days, I did give up my Snapchat streaks (I had a friend take care of them for me, lol), I didn't check Instagram, I didn't go on any apps, I didn't go in my notes section to write my thoughts or poems, and I didn't overcheck my phone to see what time it was during the day. Crazy!
I feel like I am not an avid phone user, to begin with, so this wasn't necessarily too difficult for me, but I was curious to see if I felt uneasy about not having my Snapchat or if I felt uneasy about not being such a texter as usual.
Truth was, I definitely didn't feel as comfortable as I wanted to. I did want to check Snapchat, and I did want to just be on my phone…for no reason! It's actually so weird to think I got programmed to being on my phone and having it near me that I never realized I don't actually need it with me during the day. Like at all! All I really need it for is communication with my parents and friends who live in other states and the alarm…and I pay how much a month for a cellphone? Lol.
I always was a believer that when I'm with my friends, I'm not my phone. It's such a pet peeve of mine when someone isn't all-present because there's a phone in front of their face. I really liked this exercise and I wish more people would follow it. By not having my phone while I was walking to and from classes, I was looking up— I was engaged with the world around me. Normally, a good chunk of my walk is me scrolling through my phone to type in a song I want to listen to while I walk. But what about the song of people's feet hitting the pavement? The lyrics of the words I hear as people pass me by? What about the drums and hums of cars and buses? Isn't that music too?
I normally don't even check Instagram for more than a minute on a daily basis, but I am always used to having my phone around me. For the first time in a long long time, I made sure to leave it in my dorm room during the day. Results? I was more in tune with the world around me. So as much as people act like they aren't addicted to their phones (just as I said I'm not) most people are. Most people, as I was walking, I realized are also on their phones.
I just wanted to scream, "Look up at me!" at some points because I realized, I do live in a time where a screen is plastered in front of faces more than the use of eye contact.
Maybe we really do need to check out our addiction to our phones and see just how much we do rely on these little screens for our happiness and fulfillment throughout the day.
