I’m a millenial, meaning I know how to tweet, insta and use my thumbs to text like the world is ending. I come from a generation that is always glued to their smartphones at every hour of the day. I began to notice my battery would be half drained by the middle of the day and it made me wonder what was taking my battery out so fast. It wasn’t that I was so popular and getting lots of texts and phone calls, I kept mindlessly checking it just for the sake of being on it.

There have been two times in my life where I have left my tech behind, two summers ago went I traveled to India for 15 days with a group of friends. Instead of feeling the need to snapchat and tweet about everything I saw ,I used my Nikon to simply take photos. I was able to take in the energy of every place I visited. To get a sense of the rich and colorful culture that the country holds. The second time was last summer when I also traveled to Italy with a school group. Though it was a rule that we were not to bring phones, and some broke said rule, I followed through. Again looking at the scenes of Rome, Venice and Assisi through the lens of my Nikon instead of my iPhone. I was able to be present in both of these countries both physically and mentally because I wasn't in the zoned out tech mindset that I usually find myself in at home.

So this week I decided to see what would happen if I left my phone sitting in my room for the bulk of the day. As my family is in the midst of moving I immersed myself in taping and packing up boxes. The task was good because it kept my mind and hands busy and also gave me a chance to joke around with my mom and sister and have a real conversation. Four hours went by and I was fine, I almost felt less burdened because I wasn’t constantly wanting to text someone just for the sake of getting a response back. I usually find myself sitting with my phone next to me and even if I haven't gotten a notification I would find myself constantly checking it.

I feel like there is this constant need to be up to date and to show everyone else on your social media you are in a constant state of fun moments. We use 140 characters or less to come off as witty or to promote social change with various hashtags. We use Facebook to post photos of every cup of Starbucks that we drink. Instagram is reserved for selfies or photos of food to receive instant gratification (get it, insta, instant?, i'm corny) to feel good about the lighting we used or the delicious brunch we just had. I sometimes wonder what life would be like if we still all had our flip phones. Remember those? You had to flip through every letter to text, unless you had one of the "fancy" ones with the keyboards. What if we just texted or called each other and actually had real in person conversations instead of snapchat videos and facetiming. An argument can be made for both, because both having and not having tech can simplify or complicate your life equally.

I'll leave you with this, you don't have to completely erase tech and your social media from your life, just take small increments here and there. If you are going out for a meal or a walk with your family leave your phone behind and just enjoy their presence, you'll look back and appreciate it one day I promise.