Take The Challenge

Today I came across this video and it really struck me...please take a moment to watch it and continue reading this post if you so please.

Think about how often we use our phones and computers every day. I mean, for me, I am currently writing this blog post on my laptop with my phone right next to me and Grey's Anatomy currently  playing on Netflix on my TV. We as a society are so consumed with our technological devices that we rarely take a moment to appreciate the world around us. We feel as though we won't be connected to our friends if we don't have our phone on us every second of every day. The other day my friend's phone broke and she had a panic attack because she felt so lost without that technology.

It's so sad to think that we have become that dependent on a device. Many young adults today probably can't even remember back to a time when we played outside instead of sat in front of our televisions or computers and played video games for recreation. It's no wonder obesity has become the problem that it is today. We don't set aside time to just focus on ourselves, without technology.

One of my most memorable times this year was during spring break when a friend and I decided we were going to go 'phone-less' for the entire duration of spring break. I spent the week with bunch of my close friends in a beach house together, and really anyone I wanted to talk to was there with me. Now, it wasn't everyone on the trip that decided to take the challenge, just myself and one other. Everyone else on the trip was 'impressed' and asked us 'how we got through the week', to be honest - it wasn't that bad. Now we did give ourselves one 'cheat' a day, where we could turn on our phones for 10(ish) minutes just to check and make sure our parents didn't need to talk to us or to make sure nothing major happened, but after that it was phones off.

Was it difficult? Maybe a little at first. But I was really able to enjoy my spring break trip with the people that I care about. At the end of the week, I almost didn't want to turn my phone back on.

Now I encourage all of you to take the challenge. It doesn't have to be a weeks worth of time, but maybe just for a day - or even just during your work day or classes, turn off your phone. Sure it will be hard at first, but I bet you will be amazed with how much more you are able to get done and the amount of information you are able to retain by just staying fully focused during a professor's lecture.

Because the best memories you have will not be from what you read on a computer screen, but from the experiences you have with the ones you love.

Until next time,

Casey Rose