I have a roommate that is always glued to her phone screen and I’m not exaggerating that in the slightest. She is always staring down at her screen. Always. If I try to have a conversation with her it usually goes like this: I’ll ask her a question and it will either go in one ear or out the other, she’ll be silent for a moment or two before eventually looking up and asking me to repeat myself or she’ll respond without ever looking up. All of these reactions make me feel unimportant, silly and irrelevant. I’m not even important enough for her to look up from her phone? “But Libby,” you say, “you’re just being dramatic.” That’s not the first time I’ve been told that so maybe you’re right, I mean, she must be doing something really important on her phone and that’s why she’s ignoring me, right?
If you’re a millennial, much like me, you’ve been told that you’re the generation that is glued to their screens. Social media is corrupting the youth! They can’t even type correctly anymore! They’d rather FaceTime their friends than speak to their family! I’ve heard it all and I don’t think those criticisms are going to stop anytime soon and, don’t get me wrong, these digs all have a bit a merit. Sure, I pick up my phone as soon as I wake up and sure, I prefer to send a text over a phone call, but I think that people are overlooking the real problem that social media presents, a much more dangerous problem; Hate speech.
nos·tal·gia
näˈstaljə,nəˈstaljə/
noun
a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.
