At 11:30 p.m. I lay in bed, exhausted. My mind is tired, yet I toss and turn, unable to daze into a slumber. Twenty minutes go by, and I grow impatient with my inability to fall asleep. I want to sleep, but my annoyance with my body’s lack of relaxation urges me to reach for my phone. My phone will not lull me to sleep, yet I use it anyway.
The electric white glow shines on my face as I squint at my Instagram feed for no reason whatsoever. With the brightness turned all the way down, my eyes still burn from the glow. The blue light of the electronic suppresses the secretion of melatonin and therefore interferes with one’s circadian rhythm. Knowing this, I still use my phone. I’ll admit that I have gotten better at winding down at night and putting my phone away, but from time to time, my restless mind overcomes my want for sleep.
Certainly, I am not alone in this peculiar behavior. College students are notorious for staying up late, playing video games, and scrolling through Tik Toks for hours. Why do we feel the incessant need to constantly check our phones regardless of the time of day? Without a doubt, there are psychological studies discussing our impulsivity and need for instant gratification, which is probably the reason for doom scrolls. And with some of us knowing that, it does not change our behavior in the slightest. Our phones have become another limb, and we cannot live without them.
Technology can be a beautiful and wonderful thing, but it can also be our biggest enemy. Facebook and Instagram have allowed us to stay connected with friends and family hundreds and thousands of miles away, but it also distracts us from the people directly in front of us. YouTube is a video library with everything and anything you could possibly want to watch and learn about. The content is endless, which is a double-edged sword. A student can watch a video on Node.js one minute and then watch a Harry Potter parody the next. In my opinion, the pros and cons of technology weigh heavily in our individual hands. Our behavior and mentality toward technology are what gets in our way.
Every day, we make decisions whether it is subconscious or not. We can choose to scroll through Twitter for the first 20 minutes of our day, or we can stretch and go for a walk. Our generation and those that come after ours have always lived in a digital age. Now, with Grubhub, FreshDirect, Amazon Prime, and other door-to-door services, we live in a convenience age. Many young adults and teens look for convenience because there is instant gratification. Do you see the correlation? So many of us say our time is precious, but what are we spending our time on? As I grow older, I find myself continuously saying, “There are not enough hours in the day.” Partly because life gets busy, but also because I know I waste time on social media for no rhyme or reason. To me, I value time with friends and family, as well as exploring and pursuing my hobbies. Checking my phone every five minutes is impulsive and ultimately wastes my time because there will be nothing I haven’t just seen.
Acknowledging my phone obsession and impulsivity is the first step, but acting on it is the more important one. Blocking out chunks of my day for uninterrupted work is one way to ditch the habit of constantly checking my phone. I’ll get more work done in less time, which will give me back the time I would’ve lost to distraction. Setting priorities and goals will also keep me focused and lessen my inclination to look for phone notifications.
I implore all of you to give yourselves a hard look in the mirror and think about how you spend your time. Are you content with it? Is your phone detracting from your goals and interactions? Use technology to your advantage, but don’t let it overrule you. You are your ruler.
Senioritis is an Opinion column written by one or two Stevens student(s) in their last year of study to discuss life experiences during their final year at Stevens, and other related subject matter.
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