What would you do without your phone? Cellphones control our lives whether we chose to believe it or not. Our whole life is on our phone, from daily calendars to credit card information; it’s hard to imagine life without them.  Even if it is not a cellphone, our mobile devices are always within arms reach. However, cellphones don’t just impact adults, often times toddlers have iPads or some electronic device they use for games and entertainment. Moreover, our society has begun to disengage in face to face contact and communication. It is common to notice people on their phones while out to dinner instead of talking to the other person. Electronic usage has skyrocketed and its affecting all ages.

Looking back on growing up, I don’t believe I was over or underexposed to technology. I watched TV in the mornings before school, and when I came home I usually watched whatever my parents had on. In 6th grade, my parents gave me my first phone and there were a lot of rules that came with it. My first phone was a slide phone with a keyboard, my parents had disabled the internet and the ability to send and receive pictures. Sometimes I think my parents were really harsh with my phone rules but now seeing toddlers spending hours on a device I am thankful for what they decided to do. It is so sad seeing a whole family on electronics at the dinner table, when I was young I either colored or had conversations with my parents. It’s not just at the dinner table, young children today go to school with their devices and avoid social interaction. Elementary school age is when you’re supposed to be talking with other students and learning good social skills; now everyone’s eyes are on a device and they are not interacting with one another.

I never thought I could actually be addicted to my phone, but I’ve realized I am and it is not something I am proud of. It has gotten to the point where I’ll open the same app right after I close it to see if I have any notifications. Not being on my phone makes me feel disconnected from society, there’s always a new post or story and I want to be the first to see it. There is always a constant feeling that you need to check your phone because there just might be a notification. Due to the fact that our whole lives are on our phones we always have an excuse to go on it. Now because of phones it’s hard to focus on anything and get stuff done. Homework takes even longer due to phone breaks and can make it difficult to focus in class when  know your phone is right there to distract you and who knows, maybe you have a message you don’t know about. The thought of my phone is always haunting me in the back of my head.

Electronics are taking over and it’s not benefitting anyone. Our devices control our lives and are starting to play a role in childhood development. Everything about cellphones/ electronics makes us addicted to them, we need to start taking breaks from them and stop using them every second of the day. It’s sad to see how dependent we are now, these things are controlling us, we need to recognize that and take action.