Asia Duren
Editor
In recent years, the everyday use of cell phones has skyrocketed, and I am not alone in believing that they are ruining our relationships.
I cannot count the times I have been with a group of friends sitting in pure silence. We were not silent because we were sad, tired or angry, but because we were all on our cell phones. When a conversation does start, it spurs from a post someone saw on Facebook or a picture someone posted on Instagram. That is absolutely insane. If a room full of educated college students cannot carry on a conversation without getting ideas from social media, then where is our society headed?
A lot of people want to say that it is only the millenials who act this way, but that could not be further from the truth. If you look on Facebook, the majority of people posting daily are not millenials at all. They are our grandparents; and while I am fine with that, I would love it if people could stop blaming my generation for being the laziest people on earth.
In all honesty, we live in a society filled with lazy people thanks to the culture we have created. We do not have any patience and we do not know how to talk to people face-to-face anymore. We used to depend on teachers and experts to learn new information. Now, we just "Google it."
It is becoming more and more difficult to make new friends and meet new people, because nobody knows how to carry on an intelligent conversation anymore. Most of my friends have turned to online dating to meet people, because they do not know how to go out and make friends naturally. How can we even expect to meet new people if we cannot talk to the friends we already have?
Sadly, the overuse of cell phones not only affects the way people meet and make new friends, it also affects long-standing relationships. According to Boston.com, Joseph Grenny, a social scientist, has completed a survey in which 89 percent of 2,025 people said that their intimate relationships are affected negatively because of cell phone usage. According to Essence.com, three professors from Baylor University conducted research and found that 22.6 percent of people blamed "partner phone snubbing" for problems in their relationship.
How many relationships have to suffer before we realize that people are more important than cell phones? Research has been done, and that cell phone you cling to for life support? It is only sucking the life out of you.
I am not saying that we should go on strike from our cell phones. I am saying that we need to wake up and realize that the most important things in life are not the amount of "likes" we get on a photo or the outcome of yet another Buzzfeed quiz. Moments with the people you love are what matter and you cannot let your cell phone interfere with those moments.
I challenge you to dedicate dinner time to your loved ones. Make some memories without posting that picture of your food to Instagram. Put the phone down for just an hour a day and really pay attention to what is happening in the real world, and not what is happening on the World Wide Web.