Challenge Accepted

If I was to ask you what is single piece of technology you do not leave home without, my guess is at least 80% of the people would say their cell phone. With the kind of things we can do on our phones, it is so hard to just put it down. I mean, you can keep up with friends on it through text, iMessage (iPhone users only of course), surf the interwebz, upload pictures on instagram (videos too now! see ya later Vine?) use it as a flashlight, compass, GPS... You know what I'm talking about.

I can't be the only one like this ...

Well, the topic I want to being to your attention today has a little something to do with your precious little phones being the distraction to your life! No I'm not talking about texting while driving or anything like that, but the habit of our generation to constantly stay on our telephonic devices while we should be doing other things, so a little more something like this:

Now I don't know if your family is the same as mine, but at any of my family function or even just regular dinner time, usage of cell phones is prohibited. I realized that I have a problem when I noticed I have had to leave the table once or twice each meal just to check for texts or notifications. After that is when I started noticing more and more of this bad habit on me. I'll have to have my phone on me going anywhere, and sometimes it's even hard for me not to check my phone during class. (What if I got a poke on FB or something, ya know?) If this was only a problem on me I'd just call a doctor and see what's wrong with me but when I see it on other people too I bagan to understand this is a problem we can't avoid anymore. In a poll done by Princeton shows that 58% of young adult surveyed (age 19-29) admit excessive use of their smart phones on a daily basis.

My challenge to you then, is to put your phone down once in a while and communicate with people face to face. I'm not saying to "limit yourself to like 30 minutes of phone time every 4 hours" or "get up and stretch every 20 minutes of cell phone usage" but just use your judgement. If it can wait, don't respond. Focus on the task at hand, put your phone in your backpack or purse or hands-free belt satchel or whatever. I wouldn't tell you to do something before trying it myself first of course so on May 16th, 2013, I turned my phone off for a whole 24 hours and didn't use it at all. I also didn't look at my Facebook or twitter but that's just something else I threw in to make it more challenging. This was done with prior notification to friends and family so they don't freak out when they don't find me that day. But other than that I just left my phone at home when I left to go to work at 1 pm that day.

I had a four hours shift that day and since it was a slow day, the challenge proved itself to be very difficult at first. I found myself checking my pocket for my phone every five minutes or so, and even feeling the vibration from a text when I knew I didn't even have my phone on me. (it's called phantom vibration syndrome apparently) I looked at the clock thinking that an hour has past but really it was only 15 minutes. After that it became easier and easier to eventually I didn't have to think about it too much. I was impressed by how fast I was able to not care about it, but after the 24 hours has past I picked it up as if it had never left my hand in the first place and checked all of my social media pages at once. Disappointed by how little notifications I had (insert forever alone face here), I decided that it really wasn't a big deal for me to just put my phone down once in a while and interact with people. The pro of this habit definitely outweighs the con since you'll be able to:

1. Build relationship with whoever you're with (Give yo girl that extra attention she needs)
2. Pay attention to what you're doing like listen to your prof in class
3. Not make the party host feel like his party is boring (if you're at one)
4. Avoid any health hazard of using a phone for too long (no idea if this is even real)
5. include the guy in the room that doesn't have a data plan or smart phone!
5. Save the limited data plan that you might have...?

There's gotta be more benefits but that's all I can think of for now.






If you're too lazy to read through all of that basically I said:
PUT YO PHONE DOWN! IT AIN'T COOL TO ALWAYS BE ON IT
I did it for a whole 24 hours period and so can you!

Lastly please let me know if you have any opinions about this blog, it was put off for a while but I finally had the time to write it tonight and I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading friends!

I leave you.... with a pretty funny Vine I found the other day, Peace!