Books vs. smart phones: The 21st century effect

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People on their smart phones instead of reading.[/caption]

Throughout my twenty-one years of life, I have been able to witness changes in the way our society lives due to technology. Books are becoming electronic, email is used more than postal mail and you can communicate with people from all over the world. When I think back to my life pre-smart phone, I’m not sure how I got through the day without it. Because of social media, my days now revolve around my phone. In the morning, I check all of my social media as if it were the morning newspaper. The rest of my day is spent making periodic checks to see what posts I’ve missed and maybe posting one or two myself. The more I use social media, however, the more it can become addicting. It can be easy to go day by day and not realize the amount of time spent staring at these all-knowing rectangles of light we call phones. The technological innovations I have seen in my lifetime leave me in awe, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder how my life would be different without them.

During my childhood, my father would read to me every single night before I went to sleep. As I became a better reader, I continued the routine every night on my own. I always looked forward to jumping into bed at the end of the day with a book, most often Harry Potter. Even throughout my busier teen years I enjoyed reading various magazines and the occasional novel. By the time I got to college, there was a noticeable change in my reading habits. I now had a smart phone with every social media app on it, which replaced the books I used to read in my spare time and before bed.

As a university student, it has become normal to see everyone walking through campus mindlessly staring at their phones. With new versions of phones coming out continuously, the fascination with phones and technology only seems to be increasing. Seeing what other people miss while on their phones made me look at my own habits. I knew that I had also been wasting too much time wrapped up in social media, and I needed to make a change. With a lot of self-control in the past few months, I now only check my social media in the morning before I start my day.

This change has had more of an impact on my life than I initially expected. My free time throughout the day is now filled with more rewarding activities, which made me realize how far I had drifted from my reading roots. I have been getting back to my old routine of reading every day, and it couldn’t feel more right. Reading allows me to escape my current worries and stresses, and get lost in the story of a book. The world of social media simply cannot compare to the imaginative world I am able to travel to while reading. Exercising my imagination through reading has become more addicting than my phone ever was.

Technology has undoubtedly changed the way our society operates. Its effects can be both positive and negative, but are different for everyone. If I didn’t have social media, I probably would have read several more books by now. However, I don’t have regrets because I have learned many invaluable lessons from technology and social networking. If I hadn’t taken a step back and prioritized the time I spent on my phone, I may not have fallen in love with reading again. It took a few social media obsessed years for me to realize I should have never stopped reading, but I’m grateful for the way it made me appreciate the good things only reading can provide.