Disconnect

     There’s something about these days that really bothers me...our addiction to technology. Whether it be a phone, a computer, a tablet, the television, there’s a lack of personality. A lack of one on one. There have been so many times I’ve gone to the mall & seen a huge group of people sitting around on their phones. They would rather be texting other people or playing games on their phones than talking to the people they’re sitting with.

      It makes me wonder if they even know HOW to communicate in person anymore. It’s no wonder so many people are “socially awkward” no one bothers to teach them how to communicate in person anymore, there are no more personal interactions. Or so it seems. 

     I’ve always been against technology, even though I’m guilty of being on the computer often myself, it doesn’t mean I’m proud of it. I’d like us to be able to be more personal but now face-to-face interactions are strange or uncomfortable. We don’t know how to read social cues as easily, we don’t know how to present ourselves to others. There was a time that it would be a struggle to have your kids back home at a certain time now it’s a struggle to get your kids out of the house. It’s a struggle to get them off their phones or to get them off their game stations. I have 6 game stations myself - a bunch of games I love - but I’m not glued to the system. I was raised to have only a certain amount of time on the systems I had, I got grounded from the systems when I got in trouble, I didn’t have a phone until I was 14 & then it got taken away when I was 15 going on 16, I didn’t grow up with a phone like most kids do nowadays. I only got a phone so that my mom felt more comfortable when I would take the city bus to school & so that she could make sure that if there was an emergency, I had a way to contact the authorities. 

     It’s not about safety anymore - kids getting phones - it’s about they want the phone so they beg for it. Parents get a break if they get their kids a phone - the kids are preoccupied with their phone & not bothering the parents. Maybe this isn’t the case for all parents but a majority of parents. Then the kids grow attached to these mini computers & feel like they’ve lost their purpose in life if they don’t have their phone with them, they don’t know what to do with themselves without their phones. They don’t know who they are without their phones. This is a problem. Why do we allow our kids to grow up like this? What does this say about us as a nation? Do we really value technology so much that we’d risk losing the ability to communicate in person? 

     We are growing up to be lazy. We are eventually expect to be able to sit around & not do anything and have things brought to us. To have machines do our jobs. This should be a flag for any person who values humanity as a whole. Humanity won’t exist eventually, we will be nothing but empty shells. We will have no personality. We will be cold, heartless, & unenthusiastic. 

     Do me a favor & disconnect from your devices. Enjoy life, enjoy nature, enjoy the company of others. We are naturally social creatures & we need to make more of an effort to express that or we’ll all be depressed, we’ll all lose touch of ourselves. Being human is about feeling, interacting, knowing emotions, making connections with others. Let’s bring humanity back. Let’s bring dates with no phones back, let’s bring dinner at the dinner table with family back, let’s bring love back, let’s bring happiness back. Let’s disconnect from the things that makes us be able to be so cold towards others.

     Life is not about the materials you attain, life is about the connections you make, the experiences you go through. It’s about being in the moment, not being separate from yourself. Life is not about the money, the technology, how many followers you have. I love my followers, those who have subscribed but I also love the people that I see everyday & I don’t need my phone in order to function. I don’t need my computer or my games to make me feel like myself. That’s not ME, those are my interests. My objects. I’m myself when I’m drawing, when I’m having a laugh with my friends, when I’m enjoying the company of others. I’m myself when I’m able to express in more than just pictures & words. I’m myself when I’m able to express myself non verbally as well as verbally.

      Let’s change this fad. Let’s make going out & hanging with friends or making friends popular again. Let’s bring it back. Let’s not let our kids be on the computer or PlayStation all day & all night. Let’s bring family time back. Let’s bring quality time in general back. 

      When I was a kid, our challenges were who could climb the highest in the tree, our cool things to do were to ride a bike around the neighborhood & do tricks that we might get skinned knees from but it was fun. Our challenges didn’t consist of who could get the highest score on Candy Crush or get on the leaderboards of Call of Duty. Let’s bring back good old fashion fun.