1. Going out to eat. This one bothers me the most, and not just because I have friends who don’t ever put their phones down, but because once they start to use their phone, I find myself using mine. When you’re at a table with someone other than yourself, you should have your phone down. If you have to take a second to Instagram your meal, so be it, but then the phone should go away. Phones are hard to resist, so if you find yourself to be too tempted, shut it off! Nothing is so important that it can’t wait an hour.
2. Spending time with friends. I’m definitely guilty of this, but I’m trying to do better. When you’re with your friends, it means either you or they made plans to be together. These plans probably weren’t made for you to sit around scrolling through Twitter all night. My best friend calls me out on this sometimes, and then I just feel embarrassed! If you’re with someone who you care about, your full attention should be on them, not the latest post on Instagram.
3. Watching a movie. This happened to me just last week. I was lying in bed watching a movie, and all of a sudden I realized I had missed probably twenty minutes of it because I was on my phone! It wasn’t as bad as it could have been because I wasn’t watching the movie with anyone else, but it was still an “oops” moment. When I’m home, my mom and dad don’t allow phones during family movie night, and that’s smart of them, because you really do miss a lot!
4. Learning. Some of you are probably going to want to argue with me on this one, and sometimes I want to argue myself. There’s no denying that sometimes class is super boring and all you want to do is Snapchat your best friend about how much you hate the lecture you’re listening to. Resist! Sometimes I’ll text my dad in class, or I’ll Snapchat a friend or two, but I try my best to stay off of my phone, because I’m paying a lot of money to go to class, so I want to have my full attention on what’s being taught.
5. Reading a book. Whenever I’m reading, I have my phone down. I remember when I was younger and phoneless, and I could constantly get lost in books because I had no other distractions. It’s hard to stay lost in a book when I hear my phone vibrate, so I just put it on silent.
6. Family time. We’re in college; we barely see our family as it is. We all need to learn to put our phones down when we’re around them. I get it, your parents are “so annoying” and your little sister is driving you up the wall. Get over it. One day we’re all going to realize how much family truly means to us, and we’re going to wish we had so much more time with them.
7. Driving. I’ll try not to get all PSA on you. Please put your phone down. Not only is it completely dangerous to text and drive, but you also miss things like street signs, scenery, and conversations with your friends in the car. I can promise you that you won’t be too happy when you run a stop sign that you were supposed to turn right at, AND get hit by an oncoming car. There is seriously nothing you can text that is more important than the lives of you and whoever is in your car. And I know you’ve heard this a million times, but if it IS that important, just pull over!