What do you mean you don’t have a cell phone?
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that a few months ago, I would have had enough money actually purchase one. Most people couldn’t imagine going a day without checking their social media, let alone an hour without reading their text messages. For a long time I could honestly say that I was one of them. When I woke up to shut off my alarm, I immediately thumbed through Instagram to see if I had missed any parties the night before. I tweeted what coffee I ordered before class. On weekends, I would check my friends and I in to locations on Facebook with the status #squad. I didn’t view the constant uploads of selfies as conceited, nor the one worded texts sent as meaningless. In fact, I never even questioned if I had a captive audience to these posts, or if I was just shouting out 150 characters of irrelevancy in to the void.
My entire perception on the necessity – and purpose – of smartphones and social media drastically changed the day I broke my phone. I had been texting in a class that did not allow technology, and discreetly placed my phone on my lap under the desk during a lecture. When my teacher called me to the front of the room to write something on the board, the adrenaline of not wanting to be caught all class had gotten to me. I stood up, forgetting my cell phone was in my lap, and it fell screen-first on to the floor. Both my parents were adamant that they would not be purchasing me a new phone. In a rage of young adult rebellion I made it clear that – fine! – I did not need one anyways. Thus began my five-month-long journey going cell phone free, as well as social media free in the process.
I can say first-hand that the beginning stages of being technology free is difficult. The world I am accustomed to is full of tweeting everything from what flavor coffee I got in the morning to how bored I was in class. I could no longer Instagram that picture of my lunch that for some reason seemed so important whenever I went out. Honestly, I became extremely paranoid whenever I couldn’t tag myself at a location to let my friends know that I actually did leave my house from time to time. While meeting new guys, I couldn’t upload any #ManCrushMondays on my newsfeed, or cute selfies on our dates like all my friends posted.
Since I was still too stubborn to repurchase a cell phone, I ultimately decided not to fight the process of being technology free. I became the only one of my friends at a table not texting when we went out for coffee. At first I was self-conscious, but then I felt a new emotion: liberation. When I went out on a date, I didn’t take a single picture or tag us at any location. We were able to have honest conversations free of distraction. If I needed to make a call when I went out, I had to enter a restaurant, order a drink, and ask to use their phone. I was amazed at the amount of people I met and the amount of people that approached me when I wasn’t face-first in my screen.
By the time I replaced my broken phone, I had basically gone social media free. I deleted Instagram and Twitter; only having a Facebook to communicate with family. When a potential relationship went south, there were no pictures to look back on, or text messages I could re-read obsessively and feel bad about.
The one thing I did not feel like I gained from my stint of anti-establishment was that I became any wiser. There is a misconception that smartphones make young people dumb, or that they create social ineptness. Technology is amazing. It connects us to a different dimension including a wealth of knowledge right at our finger tips. I can send scholarly journals to my peers and research breaking news at the touch of a button.
Despite technology’s remunerations, the opinion I formed without a smartphone is that social media itself has too many harms to outweigh the benefits. After several months without any, I feel considerably more in sync with my environment. Smart phones distract us, and they definitely do not allow us to be present in the moment. I felt more focused without social media, and now have no pressure to constantly update my internet friends on my whereabouts. I have no plans on returning to any social media platforms because it has alleviated a lot of anxiety that comes with it.
Basically the point I am trying to make is that if you give up your social media, you will be giving up this ugly, distorted mirror in to an alternate universe that you create for yourself. You will be giving up boring, mundane conversations with friends because now you can actually ask what they did over the weekend since you didn’t see the pictures they uploaded. You will be giving up the disappointment I know you feel when you can’t take the perfect selfie, and the pressure to remind your internet friends that you still exist. And while you don’t have to go all-out with the elimination of texting like I did, you can start small.
Go to any one of your accounts, and press delete.
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