If I had a dollar for every time my mom told me I was addicted to my phone, I’d be rich. Like, filthy rich. Any time I even glance in the general direction of where my phone is located, it’s always the same questions: “Who are you talking to?” “What are you looking at?” “What’s so important on your phone?” And of course, that’s followed by the infamous, “You’re addicted to your phone.” At this point I usually roll my eyes, deny the accusation entirely, and put my phone away to prove I’m right… until I pick it back up again not even a minute later.
Even though I’d never admit it to my mom, there are times when I do stop and think about why I have such an attachment to my phone. Why is it so important that it always has to be within reach? My first thought goes to the obvious answer; so that people can contact me at all times. The second is Instagram, third Snapchat, then Twitter, then Facebook, then Vine, and so on and so forth. While I can’t actually disable the main function of my phone, I realized that I can disable social media.
So two weeks ago I thought, alright, let’s do some soul searching. I turned on my inner Essena O’Neil and turned off Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat (Facebook had to stick around for sorority stuff) for the week of New Year’s Eve; seven days in total. Day one sucked. It seemed like the second I chose to remove myself from the social stratosphere, anything and everything chose to happen. Day two was pretty easy, since people now knew not to text and ask if I had seen the pic that so-and-so’s ex posted. Days three through seven all seemed to blend together, because at that point, not having social media had little to no effect on my life.
I thought I’d come out of my week long detox feeling refreshed, renewed, and reacquainted with the world around me, but I didn’t. In fact, I felt absolutely nothing. No change, good or bad. Maybe I did something wrong, or even better, maybe I’m just superior to the rest of my generation, who can’t seem to live without seeing cringeworthy pictures on Throwback Thursday. But sadly, neither of those things were true. I realized that I didn’t feel a change because there actually was no change. Sure, I didn’t get to witness WeWoreWhat’s Q&A on Snapchat, but I was able to obsess over pictures of Harry Styles and Kendall Jenner on a yacht for hours on end. While I may have not been able to see tweets about Kathy Griffin spray tanning Anderson Cooper, I saw it happen live on TV. I even found myself texting my friends to see what they were doing way more than usual. I was able to keep up with everyone who mattered to me (yes, Harry Styles matters) as well as the the rest of the world. And so, even without social media, I was connected.
So no, it’s not social media that keeps our phones glued to our hands. It’s us and our need to be connected. We need to know what’s going on in the world. We need to be a part of something. We need to read the same news articles, cry at the same videos, and smile at the same pictures. We need to do everything as one. We’re not addicted to social media; we’re addicted to never being alone.
