Ever since the invention of the smartphone back in 2007, we have slowly become addicted to the handheld devices. According to Pewinternet.org, 95 percent of Americans own a cellphone of some kind but only 77 percent owned a smartphone as of January 2018. This generation consists of many students and children who cannot seem to put down their phones. It goes so far that teachers and administrators have created red and green zones depending on if the classroom or hallway allows phones. Most of the time you will see students walking down the hallway and even in classrooms with airpods or two headphones in trying to drown out the outside world.

Although most students believe they could not survive without their phone I believe I could. I did not get my first phone until the fifth grade when I had to ride a bus for the first time to school. It was a small slide phone that could barely connect to the internet. Now I walk into any store or establishment and see children even younger than that with expensive tablets and iPhone Xs. I could give up my phone for a year due to the fact that I do not actually need it. I can contact my relatives from my house phone or borrow my brother’s, I do not need to aimlessly scroll through social media without any actual intent on reading the content. I also do not need to text the people I enjoy talking to when I am perfectly capable of talking to them in person. For so many people these handheld devices are powerful and seem to control how many of us live life.

Technological advances are going to help us in the future but as of right now it is simply taking away our ability to talk to others. Sure there is facetime, messenger, and even just the regular old phone call. But these things are stopping us from enjoying the beauty of human interaction. You can never truly know the true feelings behind a text, you can never see the smile on someone’s face when they laugh through a phone. We post on social media and many times those we see as influencers lie about their life and how they truly live. As a society we strive to be accepted and the way we are accepted is by following the norms that have been placed. One being posting the happy things that happen to them rather than all the emotions and experiences they are going through. The whole idea is to have this facade of a wonderful life no matter how wrong it is. Social media is such a big part of so many lives yet it does the most damage with messing with minds and suggesting that they need to look like the models, or achieve stardom by those who pretend their life is perfect. This is one reason why so many are unable to live without their phones, they are addicted to the lifestyle and feelings they receive. Setting down your phone, logging out of social media, and even giving up the handheld device is the best thing to do.