As we stay glued to our cell phones with social media, games and music, the world keeps spinning

Zach Ingram | Staff writer

As you scurry off to class in a rush to beat the bell, you find yourself nearly sprinting to the door. As the door inches ever closer, and the instructors voice becomes ever more clear, you begin to panic as the instructor begins taking roll.

Then, in a frenzy you bust into the classroom, the swinging of the door announcing your presence like a town crier! And just in time, as the professor’s voice recites your name, you calmly respond, windless but not silent, “HEEAR!” And then you swiftly take your seat.

When you reach down into your pocket to retrieve your phone, you find nothing but lint and a fast-food receipt…No, how could have this had happened?

See unbeknownst to you, since you were in such a rush to make your egregiously early 8 a.m. class, you failed to pass the first test of the day, having your cellphone on you at all times.

How will you function? How can you survive? And to most it is a welcomed accessory, but I will go as far as saying that it is a life line to most!

In modern culture, having constant contact with the outside world, and having the ability to be able to communicate with anyone all the time seems so commonplace, the very notion of a world without it is deemed archaic.

We depend on having the internet and a pool of limitless knowledge at our fingertips.

We Google, Bing, and surf the web constantly. And the plethora of social media sites only opens us up to even more endless possibilities for social
interaction.

We are addicted.

But is this even our fault? Is it possible that we are just the child of an abusive parent? Is it possible society is the true reason for our addiction?

Just think, if culture was not so inundated with all these ways of being in touch with others would we be so consumed with these electronic devices?

Walk through this with me, can we as a college students function without a phone? How about for a month? Or even only a week? How much do we depend on it? Is it our fault?

I say no. I say that culture is the true culprit here.

People from the past generations say that they lived without them and so can we. And I agree with them. We could live without them, if we lived in their era.

Living in the times of the 1940s’ would have been much simpler, and thus the need for a cellar device would not be needed.

But in the 21st century, things are so much faster and so much more complex. And the need for a mobile phone is a growing epidemic.

See, I think we could live without them, but even if 1,000 people who previously had mobile phones just threw them out, nothing could be accomplished, in fact, I bet things would actually be worse.

An individual may be able to live without one, but what about those who are dependent on the their cell phones as a way of communicating with friends.

Society has said that you need a cellphone, for they have nearly eradicated all payphones that our parents and grandparents lived on.

It is too bad, but the sad truth when we see a child who can’t read an analog clock, because they have only grown up looking at a cellphone screen with the digital representation of numbers that signal what time it is.

It sickens me when children play on iPhones instead of Legos, or spend time playing on the iPad instead of playing outside.

This is not something that we can change over night but we still can change this. Don’t fall into the snare that culture has knit, you are you, and you are being, a functioning being without your phone.

Try looking up from that screen, you may notice something beautiful.