Have you ever gone to eat a meal with someone and they just keep looking down at their phone? Or you feel like they aren’t even listening to a word that you’re saying? Our generation is obsessed with social media. How sad is it that we can’t even put our phones down for more than five minutes to have a meaningful conversation with the person sitting in front of us? Everyone, including myself, is guilty of this.
Sometimes we even feel like we have to look at our phones while we’re walking to class or waiting alone for someone because it’s too “awkward” to look around us and make eye contact with someone. This all just really boils down to the fact that some of us are so unsatisfied with our own lives, that we have to sit on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook constantly looking at other people’s lives. It’s pretty ridiculous that we are addicted to our phones when we should be interacting with others face to face.
What’s the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning? Check our phones for the latest pictures, statuses, and tweets. Why do we care so much about what other people have to say? We should be focusing on our lives. This is probably why many of us are so unproductive and procrastinate on school work so much- we just can’t get off our phones! We find pleasure from getting likes on our pictures, and if we don’t get the amount of likes we had hoped for, it’s the end of the world.
We should be able to be present in the moment and make the person we are with feel like they are important to us. All we have to do is put the phone down.
Here’s some tips to stay off your phone:
1. When you’re at dinner- put your phone in your bag or in your pocket on silent.
2. While trying to study- set a time limit for yourself. Study for 40 minutes, and then look at your phone for five minutes.
3. To prevent yourself from looking at your phone when you go to bed- use an actual alarm clock instead of your phone, and leave your phone on your desk.
Technology and social media may be the most popular thing when it comes to our generation and we may feel like we NEED it to go about our day, but I encourage everyone to limit the amount of time they spend on their phone and just be present in the moment.