Saturday, December 14Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Put it down, Look up

The New Year is the perfect time for starting a clean slate, or simply trying something new. Social media around this period is usually swamped with resolutions, but one in particular I’ve seen crop up a few times now- ‘Limit the amount of time I’m on my phone’. Mobile phones are both a blessing and a curse, yet society is finding more and more ways as to how damaging they can be for our mind. This isn’t a lecture telling you to stop using your phones, but I think it would be rewarding for society to not be so reliant on a mobile phone and live in the moment instead.

Typically, we are accustomed to documenting everything on our phones; whether it be a concert, a trip, funny photos with your friends – there will always be an occasion where people have their phones out. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is crazy to think of how much time we waste looking down at our phones when we could be living in the now. Instead of focusing on videoing a set at a music gig, you could be focusing on the atmosphere and singing along to the music; if you’re travelling and trying to take a picture of a sunset somewhere, you should take it in with your eyes instead of making sure you get that good picture. Documenting things is not a bad thing, and I always think you should have something to look back at memories with; but this does not mean you have to be glued to your phone to try and get that amazing photo, instead your eyes can take it in and your experience will be made 10x better!

this does not mean you have to be glued to your phone to try and get that amazing photo, instead your eyes can take it in and your experience will be made 10x better! 

Mentally taking a break from your phone can provide huge benefits. The amount of time we spend scrolling through social media, in particular Instagram, to feel deflated because you don’t look or act like another individual. It has destructive repercussions for our self-esteem. Comparing yourselves to someone else is made far easier when we use our phones, therefore, it could be beneficial for your mental health to just take a step away from it. If you think about it, phones were designed for communication, social media apps were just an added bonus. Therefore, we don’t actually need it, it is just something society has created and we comply to.

This is not to say you shouldn’t go on your phone, you may just find that it benefits you entirely to just take a break from it every now and then. The New Year is all about change, and perhaps hiding your phone away for half an hour a day lets you get on with things you would do if you weren’t constantly scrolling through your Instagram feed or Twitter timeline. Anything that gives your mind a bit of peace is worth a shot. You never know, you may actually take to it!