UNITED STATES—I have seriously come to the realization that I hate having a cellphone. I understand on a technological advancement it has its perks, but the anxiety and stress that I receive from my cell phone is just too much to handle. We become enamored with the device and the thought of HAVING to check it all the time throughout the day, when in reality what you psychologically plant in your head starts to manifest itself.
Oh, I have to check my email, oh, I have to see what messages I have, oh, and I have to see if I have any missed calls. The more you worry about it, the more mayhem that is delivered as a result from it. I cannot describe the anxiety I have when it comes to my cellphone; it’s perhaps the reason why I should seriously contemplate getting rid of it. I know it’s important for people to be able to reach me, but at what cost? Should I drive myself so insane that I cannot sleep at night that I’m worried about things that are beyond my control? A cellphone should NOT do those things, yet I’m encountering those things on a daily basis and it leads me to question: WHY?
Why am I allowing my cellphone to control my behavior, how I think, how I act and how I proceed for the day? It should be the opposite, but we are so glued to our technology these days that it has become a source of contention for me. I want to turn my phone off so that when I have the very slim amount of down time that I receive during the week that I have that time to MYSELF. I don’t want to receive calls or messages from work from people who cannot solve issues or problems they have without contacting me first.
At times I want to launch my cellphone right at the wall just so I don’t have to deal with the stress that it brings to my life sometimes. I mean what happened to the landline? I mean I still have one, not many Americans do, but we’ve come so attached to having mobile devices that they don’t make our lives easier they make them harder. With the cellphone it seems like you’re working even when you’re not supposed to be working. Tell me what is the fun in that? There is no fun in that America and that is the big problem, the stress level and anxiety just continues to rise to the point where you have no opportunity to breathe.
You can already check email, surf the internet, bank, I mean what’s next, phones that actual print documents from them? It hasn’t happened yet, but that does not mean it is not possible in the near future America. I wish you could just turn off notifications on the phone when you receive messages, calls or emails that you don’t want to receive, but the problem with that is that most phone technologies do not allow such things to transpire and that is damn unfortunate if you are asking me to be 100 percent honest.
It’s almost like out of sight out of mind, but then if something important doesn’t make its way to you when you need it to, then what are you to do. It’s a double-edged sword, the phone has its pros, but it certainly has its cons as well, and you have to choose and pick the battles that are presented to you rather you like it or not. It just reminds me how simple life used to be post cellphones. Is it possible that we can ever go back to that place? I’m just asking because it seems the past is long gone and will never return.
