Dear Editor,
Technology has become an essential in our daily lives. Without technology, how can we connect to our friends and relatives around the world? Electronics, such as our cellphones, help us search up unknown facts on Google, play games while waiting, listen to music or just message an old friend.
However, what I’ve noticed is that the use of our smartphones has become more like an addiction. Whether it’s in school or eating at a restaurant, people are always on their phones. I often find heads looking down, typing and scrolling away on their phones. No eyes looking up. No mouths moving. No sound is made but for the tapping or the dings from received notifications.
According to an article in Psychology Today and on ZDNet, a study conducted by Jumio, a credentials management company in Palo Alto, California, found nearly 75 per cent of participants indicated that their phones can be found less than five feet away from them at any time.
Also, it has been found that, despite warnings and laws in most US states, 55 per cent of Americans use their phones while behind the wheel. As well, 35 per cent use their phones in the movie theatre and 33 per cent on a dinner date.
We spend so much time looking down, we are beginning to stop looking up at our surroundings and the people around us.
We spend so much time typing away that we are beginning to stop having live conversations.
We have such an obsession with documenting everything, it is beginning to prevent us from living in present time.
It’s time to look up, to start living.
Annabelle Chung
Richmond
McRoberts secondary student
