For the longest time, my friends wanted me
to get a smart phone so I could join Whatsapp. Last year, around this time I got
myself my first smart phone. I love being able to text with one hand, so I got
a small phone, the LGE405. It has served me well until last week.
I've decided to spend less time staring at the
tiny little screen. This is because I realised that I was looking at life, at
least most of life, through a four-inch window.
Instead of seeing the blue of the skies, I was
seeing the blue of Facebook and Twitter. And there was more green in my
Whatsapp than in the trees outside my window. Human beings were starting to
become smaller and smaller. Flesh and blood was turning to avatars and status
updates.
My need for human connection led me to
social media, but I ended up hugging my phone at night, under the covers,
typing away, sending words to some disembodied human who was also most probably
somewhere in their bed, under the covers.
I am tired. I am bored. And I am
unplugging.
It’s only after going offline for a few
days (of course I’ve had a few minutes every now and then of checking out
Facebook and replying Whatsapp messages) that I’ve realised how addicted I’d
become to my phone. It felt like there was an IV line running from my phone to
my arm, supplying vital fluids to my body, without which I’d die.
I know I won’t die. And the world won’t
stop spinning if I go offline for a few days. So while I won’t swear by the
Almighty God that I’m completely going offline, I am going to try to check my
phone less times. I am going to resist the urge to reply all incoming messages
immediately.
And I am going to breathe slower, take the
world less seriously, take up a new hobby (farming?), write a little more, and
see more people.
And it won’t be through the tiny window
through which I’d decided to watch the world. I’m going outdoors!
I love concerts. But it’s incredible how
some people watch a full concert through the small screen of their smart phone
or tab. It’s interesting how people go out to the beach and instead of taking
in all the beauty, decide to capture small pieces of it on their phones. I can’t
imagine how much life passes us by while we’re looking at tiny, little windows.
Maybe you would also like to put away your
tiny windows through which you view the world? You’ll be amazed at the beauty
around you.
