These days, our generation is glued to our phones. What do we do when

we're waiting for a ride? Look at our phones. What do we do when we're

at dinner with our friends? Phones. What do we do when we're relaxing by

the pool or on a beach? You guessed it: phones. I mean our parents and

grandparents are right: we are glued to our phones. And it's dumb. Think

about it. No, really think about it. Dumb.

Really though: The fact that we can't hold a conversation without

looking down at our phones when we hear the buzz of a text message. The

fact that we can't go on a date without "quickly" checking snapchat or

Instagram (just one second I swear, I just saw that Emily sent me

something I have to see what it is). The fact that we cannot have a

relaxing movie night at home without glancing at our cellphones

throughout the boring parts. It's all so sad.

I go up to my camp a lot. And when I do, we always take a trip to the

beach on a good beach day (which FYI-is every day that it's not thunder

and lightning). And over the course of this summer, I've found myself

sitting on the beach on my phone. When I wasn't swimming, or sun

bathing, or talking with family, I was silently scrolling through

Instagram, or checking my texts. Or just aimlessly looking at the

screen. I wasn't staring at the gorgeous water in front of me. I was on

my damn phone!

But I learned something from my sister and mom, who bring books to the

beach. Yes, you read that right: real books. Not on an iPad. They bring

real books to the beach to read. Crazy right? I know. I didn't even

think they made books anymore (I'm totally kidding, for those of you who

can't read sarcasm). But after the entire summer of seeing my sister

flip through page after page on the beach, I decided that I would give

it a go. And guess what: I love it.

I used to love reading when I was younger. You know, before I had a

phone. Before I filled every free second or every blimp of boredom with

my phone. I used to love to read, because it would inspire me to write.

It would take me to a whole different place than the one I was in. I

could wrap myself up in a story, and I could forget things going on in

my real life, and fully immerse myself in the storyline and the

characters. But when books became boring (I associated them with

textbooks and school), I gave up on reading.

But this past couple weeks, I've been reading. I would read at work when

it was slow, and I would mostly read at the beach. And then, instead of

watching YouTube videos and scrolling through social media in bed at

night before I fell asleep, I would turn on the bedside lamp, and I

would read. I know, I'm so shocked by myself. But I fell in love with

reading again. I fell in love with getting to lose myself in the

stories. And I loved being able to turn off the light at night, close my

book, and head right to bed, not having to let me eyes real from the

light of my cellphone.

If you're around my age (or worse, younger and even more obsessed with

your phone), then this whole "reading" thing probably seems absurd to

you. It probably seems like it's not worth the time, and that it's

boring. But I challenge all of you reading this (on your phones, no

doubt) to actually read. Read for fun. Don't just associate reading with

school. Fall in love with the stories, and the characters. Put your

phone down for 15 minutes (put it on silent so you can really focus on

the book) and just read. And then I swear, you'll get so caught up in

the story that you'll forget to check your snapchat, or your Twitter.

You'll realize that our phones, our social media accounts, the digital

world, isn't the only way to fill free time.