I recently took a quiz on BuzzFeed called, “Can We Guess Your Age By How Much You Use The Internet?”
According to the quiz, I’m 24. I thought this was pretty impressive; it was only five years off. But then again, so what? Everybody uses the Internet these days.
My grandpa whips out his “machine” to check his Hotmail account. My little cousin Jeremy learns with iPads in his kindergarten class.
Society has become saturated with keyboards and touch screens. The day becomes a nightmare if we accidentally leave our cell phone at home. It feels as if we lost a piece of our soul for the day.
It’s gotten so bad that a dress “broke the Internet.” Screens dictate our lives. They tell us where to go, what to eat and who to talk to. Our status in general revolves around technology and whether we have the newest model or the most likes.
Our phones are the first thing we see when we wake up and the last thing we see before we go to sleep. Technology is ingrained in our lives, but I think it’s imperative to realize how we can’t live life by staring at a screen all day.
It’s nice to read a paperback book for leisure or flip through the glossy pages of a magazine. It’s nice to go out to eat with a group of friends and talk about things of substance, or things that don’t consist of worthless gossip and that girl in your ex-boyfriends profile picture.
We need to take a step back and smell the roses. Figuratively, since the only thing to smell right now is bus exhaustion and the slushy snow that lines our sidewalks.
Send your work emails, but don’t dawdle on Instagram. We shouldn’t be looking at other people’s photographic memories; we should be outside making our own.
Unfortunately, it’s a sad reality that we feel like we’re “out of the loop” when we’re unplugged and removed from our devices. As individuals in college, we should realize that not every girl or guy should be swiped left or right. We are people who have mouths that are meant for talking — in person.
This isn’t a direct jab at technology; I understand it is an integral part of how we function in society. It’s a jab at how much time we invest in our devices. We could use that precious time and exercise it in healthier ways.
This morning I asked a few friends, “What’s a good alternative to staring at your phone all day?” The first answer I got was “I use my computer sometimes. Or my iPad. But those two are basically the same thing as a phone.”
Then I started to get somewhere. “Talk to people in real life,” “Look where you’re going when your walking,” “Pay attention in class,” “Self reflect,” or “Have a ?picnic.”
It’s time to consciously think about what matters. We’re here at IU and on Earth for a limited amount of time. Although it seems like we have infinite hours, the reality is that our lives pass in a blink of an eye.
Don’t leave a legacy that involves the realization, “Netflix is bae.” Leave something that you’re proud of, something that’s original.
jlkarl@indiana.edu
