Recently I’ve noticed how much I’ve been attached to my phone. Although it’s supposed to connect me to the rest of society, friends, and family. I can’t help but feel as if I’ve let impact my day to day life negatively. My screen time has increased immensely and I wish I could say it was from all the communication with friends and family.

In times like these, having so much technology is a blessing or a curse in disguise. Calling, texting, and communicating with friends and family is so important for our mental health during this isolation period. However, I do not think I’ve taken advantage of this luxury. Instead, I continued to isolate myself even more by not using my phone as a source of communication but distraction from the world around me. I felt so lost and consumed by my phone in all the wrong ways I wrote a poem about how I felt.

My Magnet

I carry it everyday

It rarely leaves my hand

Like a magnet

My hand it inhabits

Without it I’m lost

My reliance would be the cost

In all that I do

It follows me too

I listen

I read

I watch

I write

All on this tiny device

Another way I never viewed

Its how it’s been

It will always win

For all I know

Is this tiny device.

I was consumed by all the social media apps, watching everyone else live their lives. On the internet there are so many confusing, opposing opinions about what is happening in the world today. I got lost in all the chaos. Since my friends weren’t around me physically, everyday, I let my emotions and thoughts build up. I felt like I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I’ve realized how far from the truth this concept I had created in my head was. Here I was isolating myself with this device when the answer to my problem was right in front of me.

My phone, my magnet, if you will, was what I needed to feel connected to the people around me. Just because I wasn’t with the people I love in person, that didn’t mean I couldn’t still facetime, call, text, or even enjoy a meal with them. One day I called a friend who lives in a different state, and I told her to prepare lunch for herself and I did the same. We face timed each other and ate our lunch together. Although it wasn’t a real lunch date, sharing a meal with someone was just one way I could stay connected with friends or family during this time.