Until the moment that they were everywhere.<\/p>\n
You see, I am a child of technology. That is, technology shaped me. By the age of 13, I was surfing on the web and chatting with strangers. I found it easy to communicate on the Internet back in 1998, preferring that to whispering vocal words to people right next to me.<\/p>\n
When new technology (as long as there was no cost), I would hop on it. I joined every social network I could. <\/p>\n
Then the smart phone. You see, I had one of the early smart phones. A windows CE phone before the iPhone changed the landscape and how information was distributed. In the month that I had it…I was suddenly taken in by the ease of communicating…and the absorption that I found myself in the screen.<\/p>\n
I hated what I had become in the mornings, turning over and reading my email right away.<\/p>\n
I swore off smart phones quite immediately after that, claiming cost. I didn’t get a smart phone again (of my own that is) until 2010. And I found myself tapping, scrolling, swiping. As if I couldn’t get enough information. I wanted more. I always wanted more.<\/p>\n
But now, I am at my brink. Even though I work in the industry (freelance, that is), I don’t want to be enslaved. I want to talk to people. I want people to see me in the eye. I want people to stop capturing the moment. I want people to stop trying to validate themselves. I blame the phone for this easy validation.<\/p>\n
I want the phone to put aside. Because you know, this way, we have to face our own fears.<\/p>\n