Let me set the scene for you:
It’s the Friday after midterms and you are about to let loose. Your favorite musical artist is sold out at the Orpheum, but you are one of the lucky ticket holders.
You are two Bud Light Limearitas, three cheap tequila shots and a poorly mixed Jack and coke deep. You arrive at the Orpheum with the squad and find a spacious spot about half way from the stage where you can jam out.
Excitement and drunkenness are both mounting as the opening acts finish up and your beloved artist is preparing to come on. The intro to your favorite song begins to play, you know they are about to jump on stage — you actually might pee your pants.
A loud roar from the crowd starts, but you don’t know what’s going on. All you can see are outstretched arms and the luminescent glow of hundreds of phones. You can’t see anything and for the whole night your whack-a-mole-like bobbing of phones obstructs your view.
What started out as the best night of the semester has now been ruined by reckless Snapchatters and Instagramers.
If you’ve been to a concert, you’ve probably experienced this frustration. Not only is it a distraction to other concert goers, but also the performers. Don’t you think it might be distracting and irritating if you hundreds or thousands of cellphone lights were in your face?
Most people take these pictures and videos to share on their social media. Honestly, I don’t care you went to see Nick Jonas nor do I want you to send me the entirety of his concert via Snapchat.
Phone use at concerts is just a single testament to the broader obsession people have with their phones. The smartphone has become one of the best and worst things to happened to humans.
Smartphones have endless capabilities for doing good. On smartphones, we share information faster than it is possible to retrieve — and all this information is available at our fingertips. Our phones connect us with friends, family and people across the world at a moment’s notice. They keep us entertained with games and with cat videos. There’s not much smartphones can’t do, which raises the question: are smartphones too perfect?
Americans are spending an average of 4.7 hours a day on their smartphones. The average American gets nearly nine hours of sleep a day, this means we are spending almost a third of our waking hours on our phones. This issue is exacerbated among younger individuals (age 18 to 29), as one poll shows that 73 percent of smartphone owners will check their phone at least a few times an hour (22 percent checking every few minutes).
Not only are we spending our waking hours on our phone, we sleep with our phones. Research on smartphone owners revealed approximately 71 percent of owners usually sleep with or next to their phone.
While cell phone use isn’t as grand a problem in a private setting, in group settings, put your phone away. Besides being flat out rude, constantly being on your phone promotes an antisocial environment that inhibits conversation and hurts relationships.
We’ve all been there. We say something to a friend, but they are completely oblivious because they are on his or her phone. No one wants to initiate a conversation with someone who isn’t going to give you interest or attention. It’s this type of experience that leads people to be less likely to engage in future conversations, reducing personal interaction with others.
Only in the last decade of the more than two million years of human history history have we had smartphones. This recent invention is wonderful in so many ways, but it should not distract you from experiences in life that truly matter. Surprise your friend with a visit, send your mom a handwritten letter, start a conversation with a stranger — be human.
We are not robots nor should we live the majority of our lives behind screens. Whether it be a concert, dinner, sporting event or other activity, consider if checking your phone is necessary because in all likelihood it probably isn’t.
Ryan Smith ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in strategic communications.