Why is it that we all feel like we need to post about our problems or complain about our lives to get the slightest bit of attention? Personally, the last couple of weeks have been extremely difficult for me, but you won’t see me post anything about my problems on social media. Why? Because all it does is create more drama and an addiction for attention. If it weren’t for our phones, there would definitely be a decreased number of people who think they have anxiety and depression. The people that are faking these illnesses, take away the help and attention that the people who actually have them may need. Can’t anyone see that it is all connected? The phones, the drama, the increasing numbers of people with depression and anxiety, the attention addictions… We create trouble for ourselves.

    In my opinion, not only does our technology create these issues, but it also prevents us from growing as people. If we are constantly relying on the opinions of others, we will never truly accept ourselves or learn to make our own decisions. How do you survive in life without learning to make your own decisions? You cannot; it’s impossible, and that is why we all appear as a congregation of needy people. If we can’t make our own decisions and feel good about them, then we cannot grow as people. We are no longer acting as independent human beings, but more as empty shells searching for a way to fill ourselves up with the attention and the approval of other empty shells searching for the same exact thing. If we were to put down our phones, love ourselves enough to respect each other, and maybe even think for ourselves, then our lives might actually improve.

  Our parents didn’t have phones until at least halfway through their lives, and as a result, they had to learn how to act in certain social situations and how to connect with people, how to really connect with them. All of us are out there searching for who we are, and we all seem to have an obsession with past eras. Think about it: nineties-style clothing is coming back, eighties music never gets old, and we constantly draw inspiration from other historical times. Times where people could connect without technology, times where friends were truly reliable, and times where family was special and love was something you couldn’t find by swiping left or right on a screen. We all claim to be old souls–or at least we like to think that we are–but the truth is that our generation has no identity for itself. We are the lost generation. We don’t have our own identity, so we steal ideas from past generations and say we are just “bringing something back,” when really we are just copying them because we can’t think for ourselves. If we are going to bring anything back, then let’s bring back face to face conversations, and old school dating habits, not just styles and music.I challenge whoever reads this to go a week, just one week without using your phone. Try conversing in person rather than on the phone, and spend time in the moment, whatever you may be doing. Really be in the moment.