One of my pet peeves is when I'm trying to talk to someone and their eyes are glued to their phone. Guess what? I CAUGHT MYSELF DOING JUST THAT a few times this semester and decided it was time for a change. It was time for a smart phone detox:
It was oddly satisfying to declutter my friends lists, never get a notification, and feel like I could leave my apartment without my phone. Shouldn't I always be able to feel like that? Don't get me wrong, I love that I can call my mom, FaceTime my sister, text my friends, share photos, etc., but in this day and age, we feel obligated to respond immediately because we know from first-hand experience that being on the waiting end is the most annoying thing.
On another note, we often get so caught up in "social" media that we actually become anti-social. I mean, how often do you check Instagram while waiting on class to start instead of just talking to the people around you? I know I do it! D-U-M-B.
Sorry for that tangent, back to my main point. My phone doesn't need to travel from my bedroom to the living room with me. I don't need to check everyone's Snapchat story before going to bed, and I don't need to scroll through Twitter when I wake up.
H e r e ' s W h a t I D i d I n s t e a d :
Early in the week, I started to get used to not checking my phone because I turned off all push notifications. This eventually led to me barely, if ever, checking social media (which made Saturday a breeze). By the time it got to today, I was excited to turn off my phone for a full 24 hours (sorry Mom if you tried to call me). I fall asleep a lot faster at night because I don't check my phone before bed time, I get out of bed quicker, have better morning scripture study habits, try to meet new people in class, get a boat load of efficient studying done, and I've even started a new hobby. You might get to hear about that in a few weeks if you're lucky.
It's not practical for me to turn off my phone forever because sometimes I need to call my mom and sometimes I need to look things up in the middle of class. And let's face it, sometimes I really really want to see what's on Instagram at the end of the weekend. But I'm gonna keep up this less phone time habit because it's truly liberating!
P.S. I cheated once -- by posting this picture as my Snapchat story yesterday. But how could I not!? We got KOLACHES in UTAH!!!! A true miracle.
[Kolaches ft. Katie Wheldon. Our Texan hearts were happy.]