Phones, computers, social media, the Internet, and other technological advances have become very prominent in the lives of people in my generation. When I am bored, I find that I can be on my phone for hours doing pointless things, and even when I am with other people I still have my phone in my hands to make sure I don't miss a text or any other notifications.

My parents will often tell me to "put the phone down," and I will just roll my eyes or put it down with a huge sigh. Although I am not proud of this, I rarely make any effort to change these patterns because nearly everyone else my age does the exact same thing.

This past weekend, I camped out from Wednesday to Sunday night with a few of my friends for the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware. I had not gone camping for a long time, so I did not know what to expect. My friend told me to bring a portable phone charger since the charging stations fill up and are at least a 20-minute walk from the tent. So I brought a solar power charger with me, thinking it would work even though I had never used one before.

When I got to the campsite on Wednesday, I checked my phone multiple times because I had charged my phone on the way to the festival, and I had left my solar charger in the sun all day. But when I went to plug my phone in the charger at night, my phone may be charged 2%, then the charger died. I asked around if this was normal, and my friends told me that solar chargers often need 24-48 hours of constant sunlight in order to charge your phone only 20%.

This came as a shock to me, and now I needed to rely on my friend's portable chargers. But because I did not want to ask to borrow theirs all the time, I decided to ask them only 2 or 3 times throughout the whole trip, just so I could have my phone set to at least 20% for emergencies. This means that I would not use my phone at all from Thursday to Sunday, only to respond to my parents and maybe take a few pictures of the musicians performing that I liked.

So for this festival weekend, I got to experience "putting the phone down".

I realized at the end of the festival trip on Sunday that not being on my phone the whole time is one of the reasons why the trip was so amazing. I felt as if I could really be myself and live in the moment enjoying every single experience and performance around me without any distractions from my phone. Being detached from my phone made me appreciate my friends more, and made my memories clearer and stronger.

I also learned that so much of our time spent with our friends and family is wasted when we are on the phone, and it makes me want to start saying "put the phone down" when we are all spending time together. Time is one of our most precious resources, and I now want to spend less and less time on my phone in order to get the most out of my life experiences.

So if you ever find an opportunity where you can detach yourself from your phone, I suggest you take it. I promise you that only good things can come from a little break from our crazy world of distractions.