Picture this: you are walking on Clemson University’s campus and you see a good friend.  You wait to see if they will notice you so that you can interact. However, you do not get a “Hey, how are you doing?” from this person, not even a smile.  Surprisingly, this did not occur because they forgot what you looked like, were deep in conversation with another friend, or reading a really good book. No, it was because their face was locked on a five

inch screen.

You’re waiting outside a classroom in Brackett Hall. The rest of your class members are waiting with you. It is completely silent in this hallway; maybe one or two people are speaking. You try to strike up a conversation, but get the feeling that you’re an annoyance because the person you’ve reached out to is buried in their

cell phone.

You are walking through the library trying to find a seat and get slammed by another human being. This person did not see you walking because they were using a smart phone. They did not say “Oh, I’m sorry!”, and they were too worried about what was going on in the world of the internet to even notice another life.

It is so silly to care about something so fake

and impersonal.

One could name many more situations where this has happened to people and it is heading in a very unhealthy direction. It is affecting the people around us and the community that we live in.

At this point, this epidemic is a reflection of a few problems that we have as a culture.

We are lazy and we want to do what is easy at the time. It is easy to sit around texting or checking Instagram. It is easy to walk on campus and send a text to a friend at the same time. But for some reason it is not as comfortable to speak to someone sitting near you about what is going on in their life.

We are impatient. We want to know and we want answers immediately. We want comfort and we want an escape.

We care too much about what other people are doing or who is together to pay attention to what is right in front of our faces. We might be missing out on some perfect opportunities to love if we would look around. Why do you think there has been growth of the fear of missing out?

We have a tendency to be selfish. We look out for ourselves more than anyone else. So while it feels good to you to just escape to a little screen, it might be in someone else’s best interest to pay attention. Do what

is uncomfortable.