It’s time to step away from your phone 📱

The beginning of the year wasn’t long ago and it was time to make resolutions and set goals for ourselves. Regardless of which area of our lives we want to improve, the first days of the year feel perfect to try to change something within us. Even though I could build new habits anytime of the year, January provides me with the motivation needed to reset some of my behaviors. Needless to say that very often I can’t achieve what I propose to myself. But if you’re like me, you’d rather fight than give up.

From weight loss to spending more time with loved ones, it’s common to see all kinds of promises. However, there’s one that will improve most of - if not all - aspects of your life:

Put down your smartphone

This is the only and most important goal I’ve set up to myself since my first new year’s resolution. And it’s probably one of the hardest.

And not because I’m super addicted to my phone that I can’t handle to put it down. I am not. But the way it has permeated society and our lives, not having a phone in front of my face makes me feel like an alien.

Who’s that weirdo staring at nothing in the bus!? And what about that lady drinking her latte in the coffee shop without her phone!? She looks sad! She must be depressed.

Haven’t you seen the latest brand new meme!? Or the controversial tweet from that famous singer!? Aren’t you following that ‘knows everything’ guru on instagram!? Where do you live bro!?

We haven’t been sharing our own life stories or daily experiences because we are now focused on sharing someone else’s. But of course… how my boring day will compete with that tiktok influencer video talking about his day working at Tesla!?

The truth is that: It won’t! Our lives have never been so dull because we’re constantly exposed to the amazing, the extraordinary, and the wonderful (and if they’re not, we scroll down). We have lost the ability to appreciate the small and simple. And we became embarrassed to share our little adventures since everyone around have already seen the top notch experience someone could have.

It’s hard to beat that and it’s really sad!

We’re no longer connecting.

I know you understand what I’m saying. What’s even crazier is that we’ve all read/listened to discussions about the issues caused by smartphones before. We all have reflected about it. And moreover, we all have realized there’s something off on our relationship with our phones. We just can’t put it away.

We have normalized sickness.

It may sound overly dramatic, but I can’t put it any other way. To be honest I have a hard time to remember how it used to be before them. I also don’t quite remember how our relationships used to be. Right now, I have a feeling that our smartphones aren’t making us smarter anymore. There’s a thin line between how they make us (and our lives) better and how they make it all worse.

We need to find the right balance and stick to it. It’s become increasingly easy to transition from “I have all the information I need” to “I’m just a zombie staring and scrolling through my device”.

Although I’ve written this to remind myself of the problems I might encounter with this small device, I also hope you give a thought on the effects of the not so smartphone has bringing to your life.

It’s not you; it’s your phone!

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