Where's my phone?!

We are in a time where every individual is attached to his or her smart phones and devices, physically and emotionally. Everyone is guilty of this, including me, and even more disturbingly, this includes my 14 year old sister and others her age or younger.

The invention of cell phones was a blessing and a curse all at the same time. It was nice, I'm sure, as a parent to be able to leave the kids at home knowing they had a way to contact you if an emergency came up but at the same time, it meant you were never truly alone, that there was always a way to reach you, even when you didn't want to be found. 

I try and think back to the time when we didn't have cell phones and it’s hard to remember what that was like. When you had to coordinate a meeting time and place and trust that the other person would be there because there was know way of knowing whether or not they were "leaving the house" or "almost there" with a simple text. If you had to wait for that person then that's what you did, you waited to see if they were going to show. Now, when I think about when I'm waiting for someone and if they are five minutes late I get anxious, if they are ten minutes late I think that they forgot about me, and if they take longer than fifteen minutes I think something terrible has happened to them, and all the while I am checking my phone to see if I missed a call or a text from them explaining their tardiness. Or when you were lost and you had to stop and ask directions to places. Now you don't even have to have the address you are trying to get to, all you need to do is look it up in your internet browser on your phone and then stick it into your GPS app on your phone and the phone does the rest. 

We have become so dependent on these phones it's almost a little ridiculous. When you've misplaced your phone and have that little moment of panic until you've found it again, or when you can't even go half a day without it because you feel "unconnected from everyone', it's kind of troubling. I know that it’s hard for me to go to sleep before checking my Twitter, and Instagram, and Facebook accounts and seeing if I have missed anything “important” or checking my email first thing in the morning. And I also know that I am not the only one who has fallen prey to technology. 

My hope though is that as a society we will see this and try our best not to become a people separated by text messaging and emailing but instead one where we interact at the bus stop or say hi to each other at the store. Yet I also know that this change will not happen by me just writing about it, it starts with me and it starts with you taking that little leap of faith in humans and asking the person next to you on the bus how their day is going, hoping they don’t look at you weird or ignore you. It takes going to extra mile.