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=**True Life: I'm Addicted To My Phone**=

Have you ever considered how much time you spend on your phones, social media or game systems each day? If the answer is no, I highly recommend you take the time to reflect. The answer is almost frightening, as Americans have slowly but surely gained an addiction to technological devices such as smart phones, iPads, laptops, TV’s, computers, etc.

This addiction to technology has lead us to become less and less interactive with the physical world. Not only are teenagers greatly affected by the games and social media that take place on our phones, adults and even young children are also spending large amounts of time in this ”media” world. When we could be out enjoying nature or quality time with friends or family, many of us are sitting in our homes on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr. Instead of playing in their yard with friends or running around at parks, little kids are playing Wii or games on the computer. When adults should be encouraging their children to go out and enjoy life, they’re inside joining their kids on the couch.

As a result of this, there has been a substantial increase in obesity rates over the past several years and there’s no doubt technology is a large contributing factor. In fact, studies have shown that countries with higher investment and communication technology have the highest rates of obesity. This is no doubt a coincidence and comes as no surprise. In America, entertainment is at our fingertips, we all have the ability to access any song, any movie, talk to essentially any person, all within the comfort of our couches. Subsequently, people have become more sedentary and less physically active.

Social media and technology have not only affected us physically, but also mentally. Believe it or not, social media has done an unthinkable job of brainwashing people into having unhealthy mindsets and beliefs about who they should be and why. With the increase in usage of websites such as Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram, both women and men, teenagers, and even children have experienced higher rates of anxiety and insecurity. This is because we are constantly comparing ourselves to the beauty, the creativity, and the success of others. But is all of this success, wealth and beauty real? Why do we allow this potentially false sense of it control our self esteem and self worth? I can bet that almost all of you in this class have compared yourselves to someone else you see on the internet or TV, I know I have; but why? Do we forget that people like the Kardashians have an entire team of beauty experts to paint their faces on every single day? The people we see on TV and on the internet aren’t real, they’re images that media use to draw our attention -- as they absorb us into the allure of the fantasy of what is projected to be “real”.

Communication is another issue in which technology has dismantled for us. Rather than having one-on-one conversations, we’ve evolved into simply texting back and forth. No longer do we share our thoughts in conversation, we “tweet” them. More and more people have become so intertwined with their computers and phones that they’re afraid to go out and socialize; instead, they stay inside on the internet and don’t understand what it means to be a sociable person and put themselves out there. Even the art of understanding human emotions through conversation is decreasing as real life facial expressions are being replaced with emojis on iMessage.

In the America I want to grow old in - I want to see more people appreciating nature and enjoying their surroundings rather than the comfort of their couch with their iPad’s in their laps. I want to see less obesity from the laziness that comes along with today’s innovative technology. I want to see people happy and confident, rather than self conscious and depressed about who they are. I want to be able to go to dinner with my friends without every single one of us being absorbed in our phones. I want to spend my weekends and breaks exploring and travelling instead of spending hours on my phone and feeling sorry for myself for not living like the people I follow on Instagram. I want to see more creativity and less conformity to this social “norm” that media has set for us. I want to see people controlling their own lives and happiness, rather than allowing social media and technology to do so for them.

=Cite Your Sources= http://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/modern-technology-adds-to-worldwide-obesity-woes-report-667957.html