Aamah W., Oakwood High School
Powering it Off
I distinctly remember a moment I had while sitting in my bedroom, about two weeks into this school year. With the clock showing 10:00 pm, 4 tests the next day, and 40 pages of dense reading due in a few days, I was beyond tired. I had spent my entire afternoon scrolling on my phone mindlessly, and as a result, had gotten none of the things on my to-do list completed. On top of that, I was aware that my days were becoming unbearably static and uninteresting. A voice in my head whispered to me as I sat there overwhelmed: “Is this really how you want to be living?” No, it was not.
My phone was the clear culprit. I had the urge to pick it up at every pause in activity, and couldn’t focus on anything for my life. It had become my respite, the thing that got me through, but lately it seemed to be doing more harm than good. I was consuming my hours without anything to show for it, and compromising the things that had always mattered to me in the process: my schoolwork and time with the people I love. Unbeknownst to me, it was also affecting my outlook on life. Getting through the days felt impossible, the entirety of my teenage years an inconceivable feat. In the days following that one night in my bedroom, I knew what I needed to do.
I set forward with resolve to make some changes. I knew I didn’t need to chuck my phone out the window completely, I simply started making manageable adjustments to how I used it: putting it far from my desk while doing homework, making an effort to have it out of sight when my friends were over, and other small things. Little by little though, I started to notice the effects. I watched with wonder as my zeal for life returned… I hadn’t even noticed it’d faded! My general outlook on life became so much brighter, and now I feel like I’m finally able to appreciate the ordinary beauty of everyday life without the constant noise from my phone clouding my thoughts.
Each day there are countless seemingly insignificant choices we make: some of these choices will add up to a life of ‘thriving,’ while others will amount to merely ‘surviving.’ I needed to make the decision to invest less time in my phone, in order to invest more time in what truly matters: my relationships, my goals, and my future. I look forward to sticking to this lifestyle as I continue to go through high school. Honestly, I don’t even want to imagine how dreary my teenage years would be if I hadn’t decided to start living life fully present. This is the question that I ask all the teenagers who feel as if they’re simply surviving: “Is this really how you want to be living?” If it’s not, maybe the best plan of action is to put the phone down.
