Not without my phone

I am glued to my phone. Or I used to be at least. With the technology now-a-days I felt that I had every reason to have my phone in my hand constantly because I could always be contacted, as if I had enough friends to actually be contacted constantly. According to research by Pew Research 67% of smartphone owners in America check their phone even though they haven't heard it or felt it vibrate. This behavior led to an addiction, at least for me. I became so obsessed with my phone that I would check if people had been online and seen my messages and if they had I wondered why they hadn't answered me. In short, I expected people to be as glued to their phones as I was and I expected them to constantly wanting to talk to me the second I wanted to talk to them.

So I made a decision, I turned of the internet on my phone. Not just the mobile data, no all of it. I turned my smartphone (that in my opinion only makes us dumber) into an old fashioned phone where the only functions I can use is texting and phone calls. If anyone wanted to reach me they could pick up their phone and dial my number.
You might wonder what I gained from this? I couldn't Google things the second I wanted to know it. I suddenly couldn't talk to everyone constantly and I was clearly just closing myself off from the outside world. The truth is, I did the opposite. I noticed the first day that by not having access to my phone constantly I actually became more aware of everything around me. Talking to people wasn't just a distraction until I got a message from someone more interesting or when I got bored I couldn't just go through Facebook's news feed. Instead I had to learn to sit down and let my imagination keep me occupied.
I've only kept the internet off for 3 days but I can already feel less stressed about it. I was actually surprised how nice it felt to just put the phone to the side and deal with the things around me. Checking my phone is an addiction that I simply have to get rid of because I've started living my life behind a screen which made me impatient. There is no need to constantly talk to someone. Real friends can go days, weeks even months without talking so there is no need for me to always have my phone in my hand. If there is something urgent they can reach me but by limiting the ways for people to contact me made me feel free. Yes, I mean free in the way that I actually feel better taking control over when I talk to people.
As much as this was a personal decision that was made due to many different reasons I believe that everyone should turn off their phone sometimes, if only just for a day because you'll quickly realise that you'll interact with your friends in a much nicer way. Because lets face it, no one likes having a conversation with someone who is looking at their phone instead of the person talking.