One of the things I realized this summer was that I have lived almost 20 years of my life passing through each day like a broken record. I’d go on my phone and waste hours away perfecting my social media feed and looking at others.
But when you barely have cell service in a foreign country for a month, you learn new things. When you travel solo, you learn a lot more than you did before. I took the time this summer to recognize that our culture has been plagued with screens and that we often forget to look up and live.
Yes, we have to use our phones and laptops for practically everything nowadays. It’s essential for modern day communication, schoolwork, jobs and entertainment. But screen time has overextended its limit. It has led us to become antisocial with our eyes attached to the screen. As technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, let’s remind ourselves of the real world and how we could live life to the fullest. It’s time to touch some grass, people.
According to a survey by Harmony Healthcare IT, Gen Z is spending an average of 6 hours and 27 minutes on screens every day. Yikes. What I found to be even more interesting is that 72% of Gen Z believe that their mental health would improve if they were less addicted to their phones and 69% believe their social life would improve if they spent less time on their phones.
So what are we waiting for?
It is up to us alone to make the choice to live. We have become so dependent on social media to tell us how our lives work. One way I detached myself from doom scrolling was by forcing myself out of my comfort zone in order to learn.
This summer, I jumped completely out of my comfort zone and into a new world. I went solo traveling even though I get homesick constantly and I went skydiving even though I’m terrified of heights.
According to a Harvard study, completing a short term achievement — something like competing in a 5K when you don’t like running — can leave you feeling confident and resilient. If you’re not growing or learning to try new things, you’ll never fulfill those long term dreams. Facing my fears made me completely more confident in my abilities to lead and socialize.
I’m not saying you should totally throw your personality and all the things you love out the window. I’m saying the opposite; expand on it.
If you’re into deep stories that you’ve read online while sipping your morning coffee, go to Books & Books cafe and pick up a genre you’d be interested in. If you love health and fitness, get off that treadmill and jog a new path around Coral Gables every day. If you’re interested in learning a hobby such as painting or salsa dancing, what’s stopping you from taking that first step?
You can still learn from your phone every day. You can search up YouTube videos on how to bake the perfect batch of cookies, or even appreciate nature and your dream vacation spot through a ten second video on Instagram. But it will not be as real as that sunrise yoga class you decide to take on the beach or deciding to reach out to a new friend and explore the city together.
Learn new things the authentic way. Stop trying to live life through your phone thinking, “someday, that’ll be me.”