While many praise the fact that modern technology has helped us, I believe it is also destroying us in an unnoticed manner. If you were to look around you’re guaranteed to find a lot of people glued to their phones. Constantly checking their news feeds and updates, it’s evident to note that few people are aware of their surroundings. Nobody ever seems to talk; they just fixate their eyes on their phone and mind their own business.

I had an out-of-date phone for three years which did not have these wonderful apps that we have now and only used it to call or text my peers. I would occasionally go and eat out with my friends and they would be fixated by their phones leaving me out of the circle. Trying to have conversations was difficult and I would often get downplayed for it. It was here that I became observational of everyone’s action and it was all the same; communication was slowly diminishing.

After a couple of years, I decided to upgrade to a smart phone and get in touch with the times and downloaded most of the social media applications. While I had a lot of fun using the apps, I became less aware of my surroundings and evidently myself. It got to the point where I had speech impediments and didn’t know how to talk for a while!  As ridiculous as it sounds, it happened and needless to say I was embarrassed.

Google, while being a powerful tool for educational purchases, is also ruining our lives. It eliminates the need to ask actual people and, in essence, dumbs down answers for us in a couple of words. Instead of having an intellectual discussion on how things worked, we often just read a couple of sentences from Wikipedia and are satisfied with it. Stand-up comedian Pete Holmes even commented on this:

“But the time from not knowing and knowing is so brief that knowing feels exactly like not knowing. So life is meaningless!”

I decided to put aside my phone when I’m with friends or with another person and try to converse with them and I noticed that with a lot of people, it’s hard and awkward. It’s here that I bring you a challenge to try with your friends or rather a game.

When you and your friends are going out to eat, have everyone turn your phones on full volume and place their phone in the middle of the table stacked. Once everyone has ordered their meals, the game begins and everyone must refrain from ever touching their phones. The game ends when the check arrives and if no one cracked, they pay their own meals. However, if one person reaches for their phone, that person has to pay for everyone’s meals.

Sounds easy enough, right? You would be surprised at the results as we had a couple of our friends pay for the whole bill. This challenge not only serves to punish those who break but it gives everyone perspective of each other and a chance to actually converse with one another. Not using your phone and looking at your surroundings is truly amazing and terrifying; it makes you wonder what the future will be like.