Put your phone down

My friends and I did a peculiar thing during brunch the other weekend.
There were eight of us and, after ordering our food, we realized every single one of us were buried in our iPhones.

It was embarrassing, and we all decided to stack our phones in the middle of the table so nobody was allowed to check them.

I’ve written columns on how liberating it was to delete my Facebook and the dangers of 21st century and millennial habits. We are a culture more electronically connected than ever, and, like any trend, there are distinct positives and negatives.

But seeing as I graduate from IU in exactly 16 days, it’s become more important than ever that I put away my phone whenever possible and look my friends in the eye.
I want to actually spend time together without checking Instagram or playing Candy Crush.

I want to actually have a conversation and a real human-to-human connection with all of these people with whom I only have a short time left. All my iPhone apps aren’t going anywhere. They’re going to be right there every time I open my phone.

My friends — the people who have become my closest allies and confidants during these past four years — won’t be there every time I open my phone. Well, at least not in person.

It’s alarming to think these devices that build a barrier between people in the same room may soon be the only way I have to contact those same people.

I have friends headed all across the country. Some are staying here in Bloomington, others returning home and some even heading overseas.

I would kick myself if I wasted even one more minute glued to my iPhone when my time left with my fellow Hoosiers is so finite. All things come to their ends, and without these endings we would never have to opportunity to look back on all the memories we’ve made with the people we love.

I can’t wait to move on from IU and start new adventures that I’m sure will be at times both terrifying and exhilarating. But while I’m still here, I’m going to spend my time with people instead of electronics as much as I can.

Tweets, Facebook posts and Snapchats aren’t going anywhere. But we are, so don’t waste any more time than you already have.

wdmcdona@indiana.edu