Our class discussions have taken that dreadful turn from the general "we use our phones too much" to now we are muppets being controlled by our devices. What does "muppet" mean in this context? To me, it meant that the strings were pulling us away from our tasks to check our phones, but almost in a sense of that we had no choice but to check. Why do we do this? Why must we constantly check our phones if we know we have something important to do (like this blog post)? When asked what percent muppet I was in class, I answered about 50%. I then thought about my answer literally just now and I no longer agreed... I am more like 75% muppet. I check my phone way too much during literally anything. Maybe it's so I don't have to worry about being called on, maybe it's because I want to avoid social situations all together, who knows.
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| wsy_irena |
My phone addiction honestly probably started in 6th grade when I first got an iPhone. This new phone, which was an upgrade from my first flip phone, was like a piece of gold in my hands; so priceless and special to me. I could text and call all my friends and family, I could play games on it whenever I wanted, it was amazing. I remember times during school where my teachers would catch me on my phone and I had to wait until the end of the day to have my parent pick it up and I thought well what the hell am I gonna do now?? Duh, you're going to learn Paige, you're in school to LEARN. Even at dinner with my friends one time they had all of us put our phones face down in the middle so we could talk and socialize yet I threw a hissy fit because then I wouldn't be able to talk to my boyfriend. Pathetic right?
So, where did we learn to get into the habit of constantly checking our phones? This brings us back to the unit where we discussed how we feel the need to be on our phones to capture certain moments. Sure, our phones are with us pretty much at all times but we don't always need to be on them right? Well, speaking for myself, I use it when I go to the bathroom, when I'm eating, doing homework and even during special occasions. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do after turning my alarm off is check the weather. I then take it with me to the bathroom so I can check social media while I brush my teeth. Tomorrow night I'm going to a concert, will I record the concert instead of just being there in the moment and watching/listening? 100% yes. I don't know what it is, but just being in the moment isn't enough for me, I like to have memories of these events that I can look back on in the future and reminisce on it. We learned to constantly be checking our phones because they are there for us through pretty much anything and everything. Was it there for me when I'm sad over a boy? Yes. Was it there for me when I got an offer from TLU to play volleyball here? Yes. Was it there for me when I failed an important test? Yes. The answer is always yes. Our phones are there for us in a way that other people aren't. My iPhone doesn't judge me or tell me something that I don't want to hear, instead it allows me to isolate myself on social media apps and games and not have to interact with the outside world if I don't feel like it.
Lately, I really have been trying to cut down on my phone usage when I'm with other people because I feel like they deserve to have my attention rather than my nose be stuck in my phone while we hang out. My boyfriend has recently been pointing out to me that I am on my phone a lot when the two of us are together and how he tries to stay off his so he can give me his attention rather than his phone. This obviously made me feel guilty because he deserves my attention too. One night he asked me, "Do you think you could go a full day without your phone and be completely fine?" My answer was a very hesitant yes. He bet that I couldn't go even 20 minutes without it max. This obviously offended me but he was right. I do feel the constant need to always be in the know about everything between checking Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and even TikTok where I spend an hour or two just mindlessly watching dumb videos. I recalled that my phone usage used to tell me I spent about 7-8 hours a day on my phone. I just looked at my current usage for the past 10 days and I was only off my phone for 1 hour and 40 minutes... yikes. I've been getting better at not being on my phone as much when I am in social situations but I know there's still some work that needs to be done. It is very safe to say that I am a social media zombie.
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