To Connect or to Disconnect?
I am the type of person who can get easily wrapped up in my own thoughts and lead myself down a rabbit hole of confusion and make believe scenarios. While this trait of mine is definitely distracting and not always very positive, I recently began thinking about a topic that I think many people are familiar with: iPhones.
During my childhood up until I turned eight years old, my family never owned a smartphone and we were left on our own to find sources of entertainment during long car rides, days off from school, and boring engagements. I look back at pictures of my sister and I in the back seat of our car playing with popsicle sticks, pipe-cleaners, and countless crafting materials and wonder how I used to be so creative as to keep myself busy for so many hours. I also notice small foldable TVs that on special occasions my parents would hook up for us to watch a movie in the car. It seems like a more simple time, when the outside world was not at my fingertips and my imagination had free reign of my mind.
In thinking about this, I realize how attached to my cell phone I am. Between keeping up on social media and watching the latest Tik Tok dance, there is always something new to click on and view. I often wonder while I stare at my phone, what I would be doing if this phone did not exist. Would I be a more creative person without the hindrance of this mobile device? Have I changed as a person now that this object holds so much of my attention? I am convinced that using a smartphone is an addiction that we are all living with and I wonder what it would take to disconnect. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to find out the answers to all of my questions is to do just what I am insinuating. I am going to take a leave of absence from my device and live in the moment. I am committed to see if I am still capable of being my own entertainment and whether I change as a person without knowing the news of what is happening, exactly when it’s happening, and where. What I fear is that I will not be able to control myself from tapping the screen of my phone and ignoring instagram notifications. I suspect it will be a challenge, but I think that this is something that could be interesting to find out.
During my childhood up until I turned eight years old, my family never owned a smartphone and we were left on our own to find sources of entertainment during long car rides, days off from school, and boring engagements. I look back at pictures of my sister and I in the back seat of our car playing with popsicle sticks, pipe-cleaners, and countless crafting materials and wonder how I used to be so creative as to keep myself busy for so many hours. I also notice small foldable TVs that on special occasions my parents would hook up for us to watch a movie in the car. It seems like a more simple time, when the outside world was not at my fingertips and my imagination had free reign of my mind.
In thinking about this, I realize how attached to my cell phone I am. Between keeping up on social media and watching the latest Tik Tok dance, there is always something new to click on and view. I often wonder while I stare at my phone, what I would be doing if this phone did not exist. Would I be a more creative person without the hindrance of this mobile device? Have I changed as a person now that this object holds so much of my attention? I am convinced that using a smartphone is an addiction that we are all living with and I wonder what it would take to disconnect. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to find out the answers to all of my questions is to do just what I am insinuating. I am going to take a leave of absence from my device and live in the moment. I am committed to see if I am still capable of being my own entertainment and whether I change as a person without knowing the news of what is happening, exactly when it’s happening, and where. What I fear is that I will not be able to control myself from tapping the screen of my phone and ignoring instagram notifications. I suspect it will be a challenge, but I think that this is something that could be interesting to find out.
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| A creation I (Marina) made on the car ride to Virginia |
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| Marina and Hailey(left) as happy as can be with our pile of shared craft materials |
I love that you brought this up because I also go back to the days before I had a phone, and remember how simple life was then. While technology is very beneficial, it also is very distracting. I cannot complete my school work without going on my phone multiple times. Taking a leave of absence from your phone is a great idea! I do it here and there, and I always find that I am not as anxious and stressed as I usually would be.
ReplyDeleteThe pics are adorable. I also remember road trips which were wayyyyyy before tech. I can remember my walkman with a whole pile of cassette tapes. We drove to Arizona when I was 12 in a little Honda... and when we came home the car was so packed that the cooler was in the backseat between me and my brother, and a Mexican hat sat on top of it LOL
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