As I sit here with my fingers on the keyboard, my eyes are not looking at the screen. Not because I’m a great typer, but because they are glued to another screen. They are glued to my cellphone.
Cellphones are mesmerizing. They light up, buzz and make sounds, and their presence alone always leaves you waiting in anticipation for when it will go into action next. And while cellphones are fascinating, I sort of hate them for it.
I hate that mine always steals my attention away from other, more important things. My cellphone steals my vision away from work, from conversations and from people. It doesn’t even have to be lit up to do so; it can simply sit next to me on the table or in my pocket, and I’m distracted by its presence, the weight of it weighing me down, mentally more than physically.
I want to focus, but i’m distracted. I want to ignore the dopamine hits, but they continue to produce. I want to be unconnected, but the world requires connection.
Can we break free?
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: Today and the next, I will leave my phone behind, not for the day in its entirety, but long enough to break away from the control this device has over me.