Kyle Wiebers | Blogger

I’ll admit, that before December 28th, 2015 I was addicted to my phone. If you were to ask many people my age, they would more than likely say the same. But due to lack of service, and the amount of amazing, interesting, and beautiful sights to see in South America, I found myself for the first time in awhile, not being dependent upon my phone. Not to be dramatic or anything, but life has changed since then.

I notice things (and people) that I never noticed before, because I was worried about what was going on on my phone. As I walk to and from class, I’m baffled by the number of people who have their noses buried in a text message, and don’t even stop to consider the fact that they are walking by the same people they are texting. We laugh at movies like Wall-E when the people are in their chairs, eyes glued to their personal screens, but the reality of it is, we are becoming that generation. In one of my textbooks I read that 70% of teenagers have a TV in their bedroom. We are content with our TV’s in our rooms and our cellphones in our hands, because it means we don’t have to face reality. I admit it, I do it to, but as a society we are so afraid of failing at human interaction, we just remove the opportunity to have human interaction from our lives.

When is the last time you called someone on the phone and had a meaningful conversation? When was the last time you sat down with someone and talked about life? These things are scary, so we prefer to live behind our screens, which allow us to terminate a Skype call or a texting conversation whenever we are uncomfortable (or even bored). While technology is great, we need to know when to put it down, the thing that connects us to people on the other side of the globe, detaches us from those closest to us.

So, even though tweeting after class might seem like the most important thing, I urge you to put your phone away, even if it’s just while you’re walking to class, and be brave. Say hello to someone. Not only could you make someone’s day with a hello and a smile, but you could also start a friendship you didn’t know existed because you were worried about that insta pic.