Where is the life?

You wake up in the morning and you unlock your phone. The screen lights up and you glimpse at all the notifications, useless ones, important one, unexpected ones, looking for the ones that should have been there, but are missing.

You start scrolling different apps, trying to “catch up with things” (how much did you actually miss when you were sleeping and together with you another million people, though?). A few minutes later you realise that you got slightly bored and that you have caught up with everything.

You sigh and tell yourself you have to get up and start your day while looking at the time. You are shocked that you can’t understand where the time slipped through your fingers and it’s already been more than an hour since you are awake.

Congratulations. You are winning at virtual life. How about your life? Are you winning at that? Can you walk down the street and look at people, see their reactions and body language without having your phone in your hand? Can you meet their eyes? Can you say “excuse me” when you did something that requires an apology to a stranger?

Could you enjoy your day without your phone in your hand or at your disposal at all times?

Listen up. The moment you scroll for hours, you are wasting your life. You are not living it. You are witnessing other people’s lives. Is that how you want to live?

Do you know those short videos showing stray cats doing stray cat things? Did you know that if you lifted up your eyes from your phone screen, you might actually witness live such a show? Have you thought of that?

You may argue that reading a book is the same. Half true for a book will never become the quicksand your phone is. A book will present you another world, other perspectives to open your mind through your own reasoning after you have finished experiencing it. We almost never do that after we use our phone, do we? We just “decompress” from our life. Is life that bad, though? Or has our mind become weaker?

Life is still a physical thing. Having sex is a physical thing. Eating is a physical thing. Dancing is a physical thing. Laughing alongside your family and friends is a physical thing. Feeling the wind against your skin is a physical thing. RAISING A CHILD IS A PHYSICAL THING. You cannot do either of these virtually!!! Think about that next time you waste hours watching other people’s lives instead of living your own.