Gemma Pinto – Staff Writer
Are you the person who rings the doorbell or are you the person that sends the “I’m outside” text? If you’re the texter, you’re most likely of the generation born from smart phones, tablets, ipods and other life-ruining electronics. If you’re the doorbell ringer, well you’re most likely an alien or 500 years old- to most of us anyways. How did it come to the point where we’d rather use our phones than our own voices?
Phones are a huge part of our lives. No matter how much we deny it, we are attached to these devices. In this day and age they can do anything, and they basically run our lives. Have you ever been in a panic because you left your phone at home? Or sat around with a group of people and heard nothing but silence and looked up to realize that everyone was on their phones? That’s how you know it’s time to put it down. It’s become a reflex to instantly grab your phone, opening a notification or reading a text. I’m guilty of succumbing to cell phone oppression myself, and sometimes find myself lacking in social skills. The excessive use of cellphones is making people awkward, socially uncomfortable and unaware of proper social etiquette. We don’t know how to approach other people if it doesn’t involve clicking away on our touch screens. We’ve become distracted by the impulse inside us to look at our phones to the point where they are the first things we look at in the morning.
It’s 2013 and a cellphone is the main form of communication. Sure, fancy technology makes talking to others convenient but it’s not always the best route. Phones are capable of starting Facebook status wars and subtweets on Twitter. Texts, e-mails, chats, etc. lack tone, and the expression of a face to face conversation. It’s easy to get messages misconstrued, leaving someone on the other end of the line to read it the wrong way. This is only one of many reasons to put your phone away and actually go up to someone and say “hi,” without emoji.
We have become the generation that feels the need to pour our hearts out on social networks to strangers, but we can’t even bear to tell our loved ones our deepest darkest secrets. We spend our childhood trying to master the art of speaking, yet it takes us minutes to familiarize ourselves with a cellphone. We should be asking others “How was your day?” rather than texting them “Whatsup?” Put the phone down and don’t help perpetuate the idea that we are “that” generation. It’s time to give your thumbs a rest.
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