Over the last couple years, I have struggled with a serious attachment to my phone. Like very, unhealthily attached.

The Addiction:

It has to be right in my back pocket or within arms reach at all times, I hear it vibrate in my dreams, and I check it regularly, whether it has buzzed or not, just to see. (Resonating with anyone?) It may sound dramatic, but this is the reality of so many people and I don’t just mean millennials, either. I know many gen z, gen x-ers, and even baby boomers, who admit to compulsively checking their phone, too. Unsurprisingly, it even has a name: nomophobia.

What’s worse, is when I check my phone, to see if someone has called or texted, (and even when they have not) I end up on to instagram, facebook, twitter, snapchat, etc, etc. I hate the way that sounds. Running through my instagram feed takes a couple minutes, then to facebook which can take however long I want, then twitter and snapchat another couple minutes, and then back to instagram to see if anyone has posted since I just looked 5 minutes before. One picture has been posted. Back to facebook to see what didn’t show up on my feed, or I didn’t click on that now I can go waste more time looking at.

15 – 20 minutes later. I don’t know where the time has gone, I have no idea what I was doing 20 minutes before, and I feel pathetic and stuck in a place without purpose. Usually a sense of inadequacy follows because majority of the material posted on social media is the highlight of a person’s day or week. The cycle of comparing myself to their lives begins, subconsciously of course, and I just end up feeling sad and pathetic.

This is our society now. And this is a huge problem.  Continue reading →