Have you even been walking around campus and all of a sudden you bump into someone and it seems like they just popped up out of the blue? Or have you been on Lower trying to cross the street and that car in front of you seems anxious to run you over but you have no idea why? Or perhaps you have been cut off waiting at Hillside for that much anticipated Baja Chicken Panini, but you swore you were paying attention to the line moving forward? When you think about those times, there is a very high chance that the reason that these events happened was because you were too preoccupied by your phone.
Too many times I have let pedestrians cross the street on campus, but instead of giving a nod or wave of acknowledgement they just look at their phone and move at a glacial pace across the street. Or there have been times where I have been out to dinner with friends, even if it is only at Chipotle, and it seems like I am basically eating with myself because they cannot go through three bites without checking their phone for a text or snap chat.
I understand that we live in a technological world where an iPhone has become an essential accessory of our everyday lives, but it does not need to be attached to you every second of every day. Do you think you are not guilty of being addicted to your iPhone? Take the quiz below to see just how obsessed with your phone you are.
Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the questions below, and at the end of the quiz add up how many ‘yes’ you get and how many ‘no’ you get.
1. Do you sleep with your phone next to you?
2. Do you feel incomplete or like you are extremely detached from the world if you forget to bring your phone with you one day?
3. Do you bring your phone to the bathroom with you?
4. Do you need to charge your phone at least once during the day for the battery not to run out?
5. Have you been guilty of texting a friend about another friend even though all 3 of you are in the same room?
6. Do you get a panicky, nervous stomach feeling, when you do not know where your phone is?
7. Have you mastered texting and walking or texting and listening? Or at least you think you have mastered it…
8. Have you pulled out your phone either walking down the hall, getting in an elevator, or waiting in line to avoid talking to someone you see that could potentially approach you?
9. Do you feel comfortable wherever you are going, even if it is somewhere you have never been before, because you have Google Maps and Suri to save you?
10. Do you have at least 5 iChat group chats going on at the same time, as well as individual chats going on with all those people in the group chats?
11. Do you have an ideal emoji memorized to express any emotion you are feeling?
12. Do you own several charges for any and every occasion (car, attach to computer, long cord, short cord, etc)?
13. Do you get a peak of excitement when your Instagram likes are so high that you no longer can see just their names?
14. Do you feel like you are using a completely different device when you borrow someone’s phone for their apps are completely out of order, or at least compared to your meticulously ordered apps?
15. Do you hate having to turn off your phone when you go on an airplane?
If you answered yes to 8 or more of these questions, you are on the verge of being “in a relationship” with your phone. Although it is great to be connected with people, the best way to connect to people is face to face. Take the time to power off, tune in to friends and most importantly enjoy and live your life to the fullest. The best relationships and memories will not be made via the screen of your phone.
Photo Sources:
http://readmedear.com/2013/07/
http://dishmag.com/issue139/lifestyle/14334/uploads/157/AppleAddiction/Ecard.jpg