I AM THROWING AWAY MY SMART PHONE

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.