Are we addicted, naive or both?

Everywhere you go you see people staring down at their phone screens, totally tuned out. The average teenager probably spends about 6-7 hours on their phone per day. But I can guarantee that most people you ask would insist they don't have a problem. This article talks about the addiction aspect of cell phones. Apps have also been made to track the use of your cell phone each day. They can tell you how many times you unlock and use your phone, as well as a timer showing you how long you were on it each day. An app I used once even allowed you to set a limit on how long you could be on your phone and would notify you when it was up. I think things like this could be helpful to a person who has problems going "off the grid" even for an hour or so.
This past week I've been on an unplanned hiatus from my cell phone because of an unfortunate incident, and what I have observed in the time I've spent watching other people during class when I myself would have usually been on my phone has made me realise a few important things.
One thing I noticed was how much I actually enjoyed not having my cell phone. As crazy as it sounds, not being in-the-know all the time is kind of relaxing, and definitely has its perks. People would ask me if I "saw that thing on Twitter last night," and I would say "nope," with ease.
The most common reaction when I told someone my phone had been destroyed in a recent water incident was, not surprisingly, pity. They felt bad for me. Shortly after the pity would come the comment on how they would never be able to survive without their cell phone, which is false. I have proven it just last week. I went four solid days without any type of cell phone. I carried my laptop around with me at school so I could access my email, only when it was convenient to do so. I was off the grid 90-95% of the time and I to this day still haven't been on my social media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
Students in most of my classes rely on their phones to keep them occupied during down time, even just a few minutes, but even worse is sometimes that "down time" is work time, or even when the teacher is talking. People who don't understand what's going on, most likely just weren't paying attention. We think we can multitask, but we can't. This is scary, I wonder how many times this has happened to me with out me even knowing.

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When you never look up

The first day without my cell phone was the hardest. I couldn't check the time every five seconds. I couldn't immediately fix my boredom, but something else happened. I looked up.
It sounds silly, but think about every teenager you know, think about yourself. You are sitting by yourself, waiting for your friends for a few minutes, what do you do? You pull out your phone and text them to ask if they are on their way. you open Twitter to see if anything interesting is happening. At the very least you check the time to see if they're late, if you're early.
Beyond the obvious barrier of the communication you now feel towards the world around you, it's simple things like this that not having a cell phone in your back pocket eliminates. When you're standing by yourself waiting, you look around instead of looking down, you watch other people and how they act, you look at nature and how beautiful it gets in the spring. I did this very thing the other day, and for some reason it felt like people were looking at me funny.
The other night I went to dinner with some friends around 10pm. The restaurant wasn't packed but there were other tables scattered around the room, each with their own set of people going about their own lives, "interacting" with each other. The three people I was siting with all pulled out their phones. One looked down at their screen, laughed, then showed the other what was funny. My boyfriend, sitting next to me, texted his parents telling them when he'd be home. I sat, feeling a little left out and a little upset. Here I was, eager to have a real, interactive conversation. But I was left sitting alone, staring at the wall, the menu, and the people around me, who were all looking down, eyes lit up white by the light of their cell phones.
I mean I can't blame anyone for doing this because I myself was the same way a week ago. I would pull out my phone every minute there was a chance, but now I see how ridiculous I look. I think about people 20 years ago and how awesome it must have been to sit down with a group of people and be forced to talk, to have real conversations, to learn things about each other, undisturbed. I miss my phone, but I don't think I can ever go back to how I used to use it.

Word count: 423

Unplanned Hiatus

Last week an unfortunate tragedy occurred to me during my afternoon tennis practice. A water bottle tipped over, spilling through my racket case an onto my unsuspecting phone. Unfortunately I didn't catch in until it was too late, 45 minutes after it had been soaking and seeping into every seem and hole, making its way into the deepest insides of my phone. Of course my first reaction was to try to turn it on, which I later learned wasn't the best idea. A blue screen flashed for a second, its last cry for help before it was gone, lost into the realm of dead phones forever.

While this event left me feeling helpless, I managed to find opportunity in the loss. I decided to make it into a kind of unplanned experiment.

If someone where to have told me 2 weeks ago that I could survive easily without my cell phone for over 4 days, I wouldn't have believed them. I rely on my phone for everything, like most other teenagers, and in ways that day by day go unnoticed. 

When I'm sitting in a class reading and I come across a word I don't know, I never hesitate to pull out my cell phone to look it up. It takes 5 seconds and the satisfaction is immediate.

When I arrive to class early, waiting for the lesson to start, I pull out my phone and browse Twitter, Instagram, keeping up with every one's latest news, interesting or not. Most of what I'm looking at is meaningless in the long run, but it keeps me occupied. I never have a second to be bored because I, in a sense, have the world at my finger tips. I can access all types of information, play any kind of virtual game, be in contact with anyone in the world. It's a powerful thing to think about, but no one stops to appreciate it. We have so much and care so little, and I suppose that applies to many things this day in society. But we wouldn't ever notice because we are too busy reading up on someone elses' life, or sending pointless text messages to people sitting right across the room from us. 

Word count: 373

Think

In two days I turn 17. 

Six thousand two hundred and five (or something like that) days on the earth, this earth. This planet that’s filled to the brim with people who break hearts and make hearts. People who smile, and even people who make others smile. People who inspire others to do amazing things and people who show us what mistakes not to make.

I didn’t ask to be put here. (and by here I don’t mean sitting in a bedroom of a two story house, I mean here, in the 21st century where we have cars that can drive 125 miles per hour, and phones that can call people who live 100,000 miles away, but a country that still can’t agree on gay marriage.) I didn’t ask for any of it.

That being said it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. But it does make a person question things. When you really start to think about it, when you start to question you very existence or something as mundane as a birthday, it can really get to your head. How each and every one of us has a different idea of who they want to be, what they think is acceptable, how they think the world should work. People like me start to question if we’re right, if we’re “doing it right”. 

I make decisions every day of where I want to eat, what I wear, how I interact with people, and what I rank as important vs. what is irrelevant, never stopping to question whether or not I’m being ignorant until I am sitting at home by myself, on my computer, trying to decide what to blog about when all I really want to write down is what I’m thinking. And today I was thinking about life, which is a pretty big category which is why I was having so much trouble because one question in my head would lead to another and after a while I would just get tired of trying to figure it all out. But what I did figure out is that it’s hard to have an opinion about things you can’t explain or understand. I want so badly to have an opinion on religion or how matter was created, but thats so impossible because I don’t know nearly enough about either of those things to say I have a solid opinion on what’s right or what’s wrong. And I’m not even sure if that’s right. I mean if I’m curious then shouldn’t I do hours of research to see what other people think and try to take a side or am I better off being ignorant of going along with the majority like most everyone else does. This blog wasn’t really about health or beauty. 

Or maybe it was about both. I think it’s healthy to explore your thoughts and this world is a beautiful place. I rest my case.

Word count: 488

Trends that need to die

Trends come and go, and some even come back, but there are a few that should be gone for good.
Something I have always been passionate about is having "clean looking" eyebrows. What I mean by that is plucking and lightly filling in when necessary never hurts. It can even really help clean up your appearance.


But on the other end of the spectrum is the overly filled in, shaped brow. #EyebrowsOnFleek, the "Instagram brow," whatever you want to call it, it's too much. It doesn't even look remotely natural in any way. It looks artificial and is certainly not practical for everyday wear. We can save the ombre effect for photo shoots and fashion shows.


Adding to the list of beauty trends that have passed their prime, fake lip plumping is definitely up there. Girls spend so much money buying products like lip plumping glosses and more recently, pieces of plastic shaped to make your lips plumper if you stick them inside and suck. This never fails to surprise me.
I can't believe people would spend their money on things like this, just because having plumper more luscious lips is trendy. I'm not against wearing a little bit of lip gloss or lip stick to give a little shine or color, in fact I'm all for that. It's a way of expressing yourself and that is perfectly okay. What is not okay in my opinion is using products that alter your body chemistry or change the shape of your lips just for the sake of following a trend. I once found a tube of lip plumper in a my kitchen drawer, mistaking it for regular lip gloss, I put it on. Within 30 seconds my lips were burning and stinging. I wiped it off immediately, but could still feel the effects on my lips. I have no idea what chemicals go into products like that, but it cannot be healthy. Companies make products with particles of shimmer that reflect light, giving the same kind of effect without the pain.


Lastly, I will never understand the appeal of "claw shaped" nails. They not only look a bit scary, but dangerous. Go to shake someone's hand and you could poke a hole in it. This one is pretty simple, but still a trend that has got to go.

Should I join a sport

Most people who are involved in a school sport will tell you to join them in the fun, but you may be apprehensive at first. This is normal, most people are, but there are so many benefits of being involved in a school sport that you should be taking advantage of.
You can get out of gym class, this is big for me. Freshman and sophomore year I didn't have to take any gym classes because I was involved in two school sports those years (volleyball and tennis freshman year and Cross country and tennis the next year.)
I got two sports waivers and one academic waiver for doing this, so I had extra room in my schedule to take another class. I replaced what would have been gym (some sort of running) with photography, something I'm really interested in. That class was so much fun and I got to meet so many new people. Which brings me to my next point, meeting people!
You can easily use joining a new team as a way to meet people you otherwise wouldn't have. It brings people together who already have a common interest, sports! So since you already have things in common with them, it is easy to bond and create lasting friendships.
I have met many people, who I am still friends with today, on a sports team years ago, as well as people just this year and made a new friendship. Its never too late to go out and try to make a new friend, and joining a sports team with girls you like will only bring you even closer together!
Joining a team is also obviously great for your fitness and health. There are many benefits to staying active and join a sport combines these with having fun and meeting people! This article talks about all the benefits of exercising daily. For me personally, it makes me feel more energized and happy through out the day, as well as increasing my stamina, which in turn helps me play my sport better! I also enjoy playing tennis and running, so that is an added bonus. :-)
I hope reading this has given you a good impression on what going out for a sports team can do for you, and I hope every one who likes athletics goes of for their school's team!

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Are women their own worst critic?

Lately I have been doing a lot of posts regarding self confidence and body image. This may be because I have been doing a lot of self evaluating lately and trying to come to terms with and appreciate who I am and what I have to offer the world. During my little scavenger hunt over the web, I found an old Dove commercial from 2013 that fits this week's common theme.
This commercial, not surprisingly, got sucked into a lot of controversy over its main "goal" which was to make women realize that they are their own worst critic and they need to appreciate themselves more. The problem with this is while it may have good intentions, it kind of misses the mark. Telling women they are critiquing themselves instead of the media telling them their appearance is off par doesn't make a person feel any better. I think this commercial does a lot of things right. The music is sentimental, the camera angles are great and they capture some really emotional moments for the women in this "experiment" (real or not) they seemed really moved by this experience. It actually makes me curious how a person would describe me to a sketch artist and what features they would pick to stand out.
The downside to this commercial in my opinion is that they paint the first picture drawn in a bad light, making it seem as if it's less attractive than the second, which isn't necessarily true. Also this video does a slim job in the diversity category. Most of the participants shown are caucasian and thin with blonde hair and blue eyes. This commercials idea of a "real beautiful women" is what most people see when they open the magazines that make them hate themselves in the first place. And of course those girls have insecurities too, but it almost defeats the message. If the aim of this ad is to make everyone realize their true beauty, then why are we only focusing on a small branch of the huge tree that is the diverse population of women all over the world?
At the end of the day, while this commercial may be moving to some, it could also be discouraging to others. Women can be their worst critic, but we can also be our best friend.

Word count: 393