The monster that roars and dings and beeps

There is an addiction to a certain thing that grows stronger daily. Countries make it better in the name of progress. In America, it’s all the rage, too. People cannot go to restaurants, school, work, or get in their car without some form of it. It is so popular it stays by beds, is reached for in the middle of the night, and is the first thing people touch when they wake up in the morning.

Its name is technology.

The most well-known form would be the cell phone. The little device lets people feel in control. They can manage their social life, banking, shopping, searching, and even their dating lives all at the touch of a finger. But, do humans really have control over their beloved electronic friend?

Or is it the other way around?

People allow cell phones to keep them attached to a wall for half the day. A low battery percentage when there is a special event is enough to cause a panic attack. After all, companies even have portable chargers now because it would be a tragedy to not get an Instagram picture of one’s Olive Garden dinner, right? Not only does it make a person hooked up with the infamous white charger, but it hooks the mind, too.

Go out in public for a day. It is guaranteed that someone will almost get hit by a car because they were walking and texting. How many families sit at a table and are more concerned about what is trending on Twitter than laughing with the person they are with? It is heartbreaking to watch spouses never look up at the table because a piece of plastic needed attention more than their lover.

There is no spark anymore in people’s eyes. Instead, it is just a glazed over, blood shot glance because the brightness of the screen the night before kept one up.

The world is fooled to think that the advancement of technology will somehow satisfy. No matter the latest IPhone, Snapchat filter, or all the other things deemed necessary to function, humans still crave more.

That is my greatest fear; not the fear of rejection from my dream college, growing up, or the future, but the fear that the world will never wake up to realize all the harm technology is causing. Technology is manifesting itself in ways it should have no power in, yet it does.

But, the most devastating part of all is that no one even realizes how obsessed the world truly is. How many more first steps can toddlers take to make parents realize that it is less about documenting it on Facebook, but more about holding their child’s hands? How many more days will people waste texting about how bored they are instead of getting out and doing something? What amount of laughs will it take to make brothers realize their little sister will not be little forever? There is more to life than merely tapping a screen, pounding on buttons, and spending a month’s paycheck on a phone bill.

How can I put this fear to rest? I cannot convince my teenage peers to give up their habits. I cannot steal spouses’ phones and yell “this is not what a fairy tale looks like!” I cannot call Apple and tell them to stop creating new inventions and unless a time machine is invented soon, I cannot go back to pay phones and horse-drawn carriages.

I cannot change how technology rules lives, but I can control what will rule mine. There is so much to appreciate in the world: sunrise, sunsets, mountains, changing leaves in the fall, fluttering of eyelashes, and a thousand other things technology cannot imitate. I will not forget the purpose of having breath in my lungs and all the glorious things that come with existing. Yes, life is difficult, and it is easier to escape to a picture perfect feed. But, nobody learns patience, perseverance, or love like that.

I believe the intricate way a finger moves is made for more than gripping a device. It’s made for pinky-promises under the starry, summer sky with one’s best friend swearing “I will always remember to live.”

That is what I am planning to do. I hope the world will, too.