I believe that technology has altered the way our generation works. Today, you see almost everyone on their phones, no matter what age they are. With kids in our generation, it’s  hard to find someone sitting down and enjoying a good book. Nowadays, you rarely see kids playing outside and enjoying their surroundings. Technology has changed the way our generation views life.

Personally, I am always on my phone and I know it’s bad, but it’s an addiction. Sometimes I look at my phone for the time and I end up looking to see if I have any notifications and have to look again because I paid no attention to the actual time. If I am not doing anything, I am absolutely glued to my phone. The only time I am off my phone is when I am driving. Besides that, sadly, I am almost always on my phone and I hate myself for it.

I even have a niece that is almost five years old who quickly learned how to use an iPhone when she was two or three. Today, she has her very own iPad and knows exactly how to use it. She is able to FaceTime with her mom when they are apart. I can see how that could be good for her mental development, but back in the day, you didn’t see five year olds with a phone in their hand. Now, I’m not saying she doesn’t go outside at all, because I would be lying — she goes outside a lot and runs around in the yard when it’s nice out –but it’s strange to see how the generations have changed over the years.

I still like to go on walks and sit outside and take photographs, but for the most part, I’d rather be inside watching Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix. Photography is my ticket to being outside and enjoying nature. It’s a way for me to communicate with other people. While looking at pictures, everyone has a different way of viewing. Say you’re looking at a picture of a sunset, some people take a long look at it and start to think about what nature means to them, and others might just admire the beauty of it. For me, photography brings out the side of me that loves the nature and seeing the true beauty behind this world. When I’m not enjoying my photography, I am again, glued to my phone and I miss out on what is right there in front of me.

It truly makes me sad that technology has taken over our creative minds. Even in school, we rely too much on technology. For projects, instead of making eye-catching posters and having fun being creative, we spend time making PowerPoints that no one wants to look at. Creativity is a part of our lives that should be prominent, but it’s not. We should use our creativity to express ourselves instead of hiding behind a computer screen. I believe that our creativity is suppressed by the dominance of phones and computers.

The internet has ruined our society. It has destroyed our self images. Many people, females and males, feel low self-esteem because of the way the internet perceives the “perfect” human. There is no such thing as a “perfect” human, but because of the internet, everyone looks at these images of what we are  supposed to be and we compare ourselves to them. The internet has made it difficult to love ourselves for who we are.

Today, when you go out to dinner, a lot of the times you see people on their phones instead of talking with the people around them. Personally when I go out to dinner, I try to leave my phone in my bag and have conversations with whoever I’m with. For our generation, I find that it’s harder for people to communicate in person because we have gotten so used to hiding behind a screen. We’ve gotten so used to relying on technology that  we have forgotten how to live life in the real world. I believe that technology has changed us, and not entirely for the better.