We are all glued to screens.
I’m not even a baby boomer complaining about those darn millennials, always on their phones. I am a millennial.
913,242,000 texts are sent worldwide every hour of every day.
It takes on average 90 seconds to answer a text.
U.S. consumers spend 5 hours on their phones, with 19% of that time being spent on Facebook.
We have two options when it comes to using our phones and social networks: close off or connect.
Closing off is the result of seeing the filtered lives of those who go on adventures, travel, fall in love, get married, have children. Closing off is the result of the comparison we make between our actual life and emotions to someone’s online highlight reel. Closing off is the result of checking our emails and reading the news online instead of calling our family. Closing off is the antithesis of our purpose as humans.
Connecting is the result of looking up from our phones. Connecting is locking our phone, turning it on silent mode, and simply being with one another. Connecting is making a call or sending a text to a family member, and then showing up. Connecting is using Facebook, not to stalk someone’s “fuller” life, but to write to a friend from your past, logging out, and meeting them for coffee. Connecting is what we’re made for. Connecting is why we live in community.
Take the 90 seconds to answer someone’s text and say “I’ll call you in ten”. Use Facebook to schedule a dinner and then be present when the event comes. Check Instagram to see where Friday’s workout will be and then show up.
Once we stop judging our phone use and instead use it well, within limits, we can actually connect. We can connect more fully with more people in more ways than just through our screens.
So put your screen down, look up, reach out, and connect.
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