I spent a day ignoring texts and you should too

Telling people why they need to put down their phone has become as cliché as explaining why you can’t wait until the night before to study for an exam. It’s ineffective – useless in the fight against reviving social relationships.

No matter how many “wasted time” facts you throw at them or “missed opportunities” stories are shared, people will continue to live their lives through a 6-inch screen.

I’m certainly guilty of falling into the social media and cellphone trap. It’s not uncommon for me to be sitting in the same room with friends, not saying a word for 20 minutes because we’re all staring at our phones.

But during the silence is when the loudest words are spoken. Because as I hit refresh for the 17th time on my Instagram feed, I realized none of us are going to look back and remember the nights we all just sat there, separately looking at social media posts and sloth videos. I wondered if it would really be the worst thing in the world if social media and texting conversations disappeared. So, I decided to find out.

I started by deleting all of the social media apps on my phone. For 24 hours, I only answered texts asking direct questions. I ignored every text that could start a conversation. I wanted to know what I really miss when I spend my day staring at my phone.

First of all, I never realized how little socialization existed in a classroom in the moments before class started. That is, until I walked into that first one without my phone turned on. Every single person was doing what I had vowed not to do: staring at their phone.

But then two brave souls put down the electronics and did something that has become so rare in our society – they had a conversation. Was I eavesdropping? Yes. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Because what I heard was just enough to restore a little faith in genuine human interaction.

The guy, with a shaky voice and nervous gestures, asked the girl he was partners with in class if she’d like to go out with him sometime. It was sweet, it was real and it was rooted in a personal connection – not in a filter or number of likes on a photo.

The second moment came not long after that, during the walk back from class. It was Ash Wednesday, and as I saw people receiving ashes or simply walking around with them on their forehead, it finally sunk in that this was such an important day in some people’s lives that’s often overlooked or unappreciated.

People were celebrating something that holds so much meaning. Because I took the time to notice, I felt like I got to be a part of it. It was one girl’s first time ever receiving ashes. All she could talk about was how excited she was to finally be a part of a special community, not how she couldn’t wait to post this on her Snapchat story.

While neither of these events affected me directly, it was incredible to witness the new friendships formed and experiences shared by those who were engaged in the real world around them. Flash forward to later that night when my same group of friends is crowded in that same dorm room, but this time it’s different.

We’re telling stories from our childhood, doing our best Olivia from The Bachelor impressions and learning things about each other that we can’t get from a Facebook profile. The best part? Not a single one of us even knew where our phones were.

Technology is safe. Texting and social media allows people to fake perfection, but real life and the truly important moments happen when we take risks, mess up and have to think on our feet. No one’s saying to go off the grid, just offline every now and again. There’s a whole world out there – just look ahead instead of down.