THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN MY SCREEN

Lately, I started thinking about how much of my daily life is connected to my phone basically, its not just calls and messages, but almost everything...

I use it to check the time, read news, respond to people, watch movies, listen to music, check my accounts, search for information, take pictures, write down ideas and sometimes even to avoid thinking too much... There are also moments when I pick up my phone without even knowing why.. I basically unlock it, scroll for a while, lock it again and then repeat the same thing five minutes later... At this point, I sometimes wonder if I am using my phone or if my phone is using me.

The funny thing is that I still remember a time when phones were not this powerful... There was a time when having a phone simply meant you could call someone or send a text message.. You were not expected to be available every minute and If someone did not reply immediately, you assumed they were busy, sleeping, or somewhere without network... Nobody started imagining that you were angry with them because you had not replied in three minutes but today, silence from someone’s phone can create an entire story in our minds..

For me, staying away from my phone for a few hours is possible, but it depends on what I am doing.. If I am working on something serious, watching an interesting movie, or spending time with people I genuinely enjoy, I can forget about my phone for a while but if I am sitting down with nothing planned, the phone suddenly becomes very attractive... I will tell myself that I am only checking one thing but then one thing becomes five things.. from WhatsApp, i move to Facebook, open YouTube, read a few posts, watch a short video and somehow thirty minutes has disappeared... Sometimes I even forget what I originally wanted to check... That part is slightly embarrassing.

I have also noticed that the phone can make us uncomfortable with ordinary silence.. Imagine sitting somewhere without music, videos, messages, or notifications.. At first, it may feel boring and after some time, your mind begins to settle... You start noticing your surroundings, You think about things you have been avoiding, You remember ideas you had forgotten, You may even discover that you were not actually tired, you were simply overstimulated... I think that is one of the biggest reasons people struggle to stay away from their devices.. It is not always because the phone is necessary but Sometimes, we have become too used to having something constantly entertaining us..

There is also the pressure of being reachable... Work messages, family conversations, business updates, social media comments, emails, and even random notifications can make it feel as if we are always on duty, Even when we are resting, part of our attention is still waiting for the next sound or vibration but rest should not always mean changing from one screen to another..

I am not against phones or computers. In fact, I depend on them for many important things especially work... Technology helps access opportunities that would have been difficult to reach years ago.. The problem is not the device itself but the problem begins when we lose the ability to put it down....A phone should be a tool, not a permanent extension of our hands..

I am still learning how to create that balance so Sometimes I deliberately keep my phone away while working and I also try to avoid checking it immediately after waking up because I have noticed that it can affect the direction of my entire morning... If the first thing I consume is noise from the internet, my mind starts the day already crowded.

I believe we should all practise being unavailable sometimes... Not to punish anyone or to appear mysterious but Just to remind ourselves that life exists outside the screen...

The real test is not whether we can survive without a phone forever... It is whether we can choose to put it down without feeling anxious, empty or even lost because if we cannot enjoy a few quiet hours without a device, then maybe the issue is bigger than technology..

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