I genuinely hate my phone sometimes. This may shock most people since I am that stereotypical teenager that has been glued to her phone ever since she got an archaic Nokia in middle school. I mean, all teenagers obsess over their phones. But just because I spend a lot of time on my phone doesn’t mean I like it.
I think I was definitely in love with my phone at first. Texting proved to be tons of fun, and I never could get bored with it. Instagram’s beauty intrigued me. Seeing tons of people’s tweets all day, every day was enthralling. I liked the rapidity of it all. Instant gratification; everything right when I wanted it.
Fast forward about five years, and my feelings have changed. I now spend hours each day on my phone. Its pink flowery case has become the first and last thing I see each day. It’s not just texting anymore, or even social media. I added Netflix, Pinterest and about a thousand other apps to my phone to waste my time. Wasting time is exactly what I feel like I’m doing. I am staring at a screen for hours. I am staring until my eyes hurt. And that can not be okay.
I feel like my phone consumes my life at times. It distracts from the real world and the things that truly matter in life. When I almost feel like a zombie from being on my phone for too long, it really hits me. I have wasted hours of my life. I have read mindless Facebook posts and tweets for hours. These hours could have been spent living my life. I could have seen a friend, read a book or learned something new. I could have enriched my life in those hours. Instead I was sucked into my phone’s empty world.
In a way, I feel trapped. I need my phone. I need it to call my parents when I’m out somewhere. I need to text people and even post pictures every once in awhile. I could never wake up and just throw my phone away. It is necessary to modern life.
But whenever I see a little kid out with their family and all of their focus goes to their phone, I feel so sad for them. Or when I see a group of friends or a couple eating together and their eyes don’t stay on real-life people but on their glowing screen instead. I am afraid that children now will never know what it feels like to be free from phones and technology in general. I fear that we will become slaves to our devices and our real world lives and relationships will most definitely suffer because of it.
My phone will always be there and finding a balance between spending time in the real world and the technological world will need to happen. I should not text my friends more than I physically talk to them. I should not watch YouTube videos more than I play with my dog. I need to stop engaging with my phone so much and start engaging in the life that is happening around me.
