Thoughts on a Thursday #3 - Technology Takeover

You've left your house and you're 10 minutes away from wherever you need to be, you're already running late. You're rummaging round the bottom of your bag trying to feel for your phone. You can't feel it, you start to think back to when you left your house, you start rummaging through your bag quicker. Your heart starts beating faster, you're getting slightly annoyed with yourself and even more panicked. Where is your phone? You can't find it. You've definitely forgot it. You suddenly remember seeing it on the work surface at home in your kitchen, you walked straight past it. What now? What do you do? Can you cope the day without your phone? Can you make it to work/to school/to uni to wherever you're going without it? Or is it so important that you turn back, risk being late and grab it.

For most of us, the connection to our smartphone, iPods, tablets, laptops etc is borderline obsessive. They contain our whole lives, they give us access to our friends, family etc and potentially they are used for our jobs and hobbies. But surely this is normal now right? It's normal to walk down the road and for people to be attached to their electronic device, to have earphones in their ear, to be reading of a screen or talking into their phone.

Technology advances every single day and to some extent, it has become a necessity in our lives;  iPads and computers are used in schools, apps are used to monitor our health and fitness, you can order your shopping online and you can manage your bank account via your phone. Therefore it is easy to see why technology is well and truly taking over our lives, in today's society it is difficult to live without it.

So when is it a little too much? Many will agree that it is rude to text when with other people, it is antisocial to check Facebook or twitter for the billionth time when sitting having a conversation with another living, breathing human being. I know that I feel a bit put out when I'm with my friends and we're talking and having fun and suddenly I realise there not actually listening to me instead there scrolling through Instagram or texting somebody else, and then you feel a sense of unimportance, that your friend would rather interact with this tiny little device than you. It becomes even more overwhelming when your sitting in a room with 3 other people, or in a restaurant and you look up and realise every single one of you is engrossed in their phones. Probably reading a tweet that they've read before, or that they could read later. Then I realise we are wasting valuable time, time where we can learn about each other, share opinions, laugh and have fun. Instead we're all staring into a tiny little screen, looking at things that probably aren't as interesting as the people sitting in front of us.

I am as much interested in technology as the next person, and I am in no way trying to insinuate that we should go back to living without technology. I just think everybody needs to calm down a little bit, and make sure we appreciate whats in front of us before it is too late (a little morbid haha). Some suggestions from me, have a certain time in the day when you do not use you're phone at all, example dinner time, there is no need to have your phone next to you whilst sitting having your family meal of an evening. Secondly, turn your phone completely off when you go to bed, there is no need to be woken up-to texts or reminders. Read your reminders before you turn it off and use a real alarm clock in the morning, this way you are more likely to have a good nights sleep without any interruptions. This is also good for the phone as it allows it to recharge. Lastly, leave your devices alone, there is no need to take your phone with you to go on a run, embrace nature, leave it in another room. I promise you it won't run away!

I know that in todays world technology plays a big, big part, but we must be careful that we still are the ones in control, don't be controlled by a tiny little machine!