The Phone Takeover

BY Gina D’Amico

Perspectives Editor

Wake up… check my phone… go to class… check my phone… eat…check my phone.

The ongoing cycle of checking my phone continues to get worse each day. One habit that I have noticed to gradually get worse in my life is how much time I spend on it. I hate the fact that I am always checking my phone to see if somebody texted me or snapchatted me, but it has now become natural for me to always look at my phone after I do something.

Lately, my friends and I talked about how different things would be if we did not have phones. Would people socialize differently? Would we be so worried about what everyone is doing?

Every time I go home my mom says to me at least once, “Can you get off your phone?” Although I do not realize how much I actually use it, my parents happen to pick up on this habit frequently. Recently, I have been paying more attention to my phone use and I find it unreal how much I look at my phone throughout the day. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is look at my phone and go on social media to see if I got any notifications. With our world becoming so invested in social media, it almost makes it impossible to put our phones down and enjoy the moment.

During spring break, I noticed how much I was paying attention to always posting on my Snapchat and Instagram story rather than just focusing on enjoying the moment. I was surrounded by my friends on a beautiful resort but I was still worried about capturing that perfect moment to share with my followers. One night as my friends and I were sitting at dinner I looked around and every person at the table was on their phone. I thought to myself,  “Why are we all on our phones instead of enjoying each others company?”

Although I am extremely guilty of being on my phone all the time, I feel as though they do distract us from some of the more important things in life. My friends and I are very guilty of always wanting to snapchat something funny, post photos of our outfits, or food but why do we need to post everything? My mom always asks me those questions and I am finally realizing that not everything needs to be posted or shared with people. I have now been limiting time spent on my phone and starting to enjoy making memories in person.

With phones becoming such an important part in our lives today makes me think of how difficult it would be to actually live without one in today’s society. From texting, calling,  checking emails, and checking social media, phones are a huge part in our day to day life. Although we can limit our social media use, it becomes challenging to put our phones down because so many people are on their phones and nobody wants to miss out on something that our friends are sharing. Many people possess being on your phone as a bad thing. However, I believe there are many good things that can come out of it. My phone gives me the ability to check and respond to my emails quickly. With my phone, I am able to make calls or text my friends whenever I need or want to. Although I do find it inevitable to get off my phone, I also find it very important that we have them and use them to our advantage.

One question that I want to leave you all with:  is society making us become addicted to our phones or is it ourselves who created this problem?

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