Romir Swar Week 15: I hate phones ngl

In 2007, Steve Jobs pitched his little pocket invention to the world. What followed was the world undergoing a self-induced technology-charged tsunami, one with detrimental effects. In a catastrophic manner, the breakneck increase in the prevalence of phones has caused kids, teenagers, middle-aged parents, and grandparents to refrain from genuine social connections, as they sit mindlessly staring into an abyss of captivating nothing. 

In elementary school, when teachers invited discussion, “Class, how was your weekend?” hands used to shoot up perpendicularly. Now, instead of chatter characterized by eagerness to share, inquisitive propositions punctuate not with ricocheting exclamation marks but rather stationary silence. I sit witness to the crime of technology; I scan the room of students creating perpendicular angles not with their hands but rather with their necks. I hate it. 

I vehemently believe that technology hinders the intimacy of life. Yes, life. 

Shower thoughts are clouded by the foggy must of music. Airplane pocket games have been discarded for movies. Waiting in line instead of waiting for that next notification. Tapping a shoulder to start a conversation instead of tapping an inbox. Living in the moment that gets captured by a photo instead of living in the moment of capturing said photo.

You’ve never seen a phone in a dream. They are distinct from reality. They distract from reality. 

Society sleeps in a trance without even realizing it. How can one wake up if they don’t even know they’re asleep? (Dang, that’s deep)

Technology—and the increased dependency on it—has created this collective tendency to constantly consume content, rather than create it ourselves. 

The way I see it, boredom is something to drown in, not out.

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more...recently in Spanish class we watched The Social Dilemma, a movie about how screens are taking over our lives. We watched it during class and i was like wow; naturally, though, I did not fully understand it. I rewatched it at home. Genuinely feel like my life is different after watching. please go watch it. it's on netflix. 

this was taken freshman year. wow i feel old. feel like the picture represents a solid WHEN for the time screens became so normal/ routine to our lives (quarantine I feel)


Comments

  1. ShriramApril 22, 2026 at 4:14 PM

    Hi Romir! I think your blog tackles a really important topic, and I completely agree with your perspective. Firstly, though, I’d like to point out that your line about waking up reminds me of a song lyric: “Sometimes it feels like the world is falling asleep / How do you wake someone up from inside a dream?” Coincidentally, this was also the song I quoted for one of my quarter one blogs. Great minds think alike, clearly.

    The rest of your blog is something I can only describe as absolutely correct. As fond as I am of technology, I can’t help but be incredibly frustrated with how ironically disconnected we feel in person. Technology is undoubtedly important, but, as you said, I agree with the fact that it’s put large numbers of our society in a trance. Our ability to disconnect from reality and into an algorithmically pleasurable media feed has erased our ability to find pleasure in the world around us, which is a shame. I really like the way you describe boredom; it is those in-between moments that connections really shine. I’m glad that this issue is being addressed more, as it would never be solved if we didn’t talk about it. Ironically, we’re using technology to facilitate our discussions about the problems of technology. Great blog as always.

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  2. Lara Reyes-TerryApril 22, 2026 at 8:21 PM

    I didn’t initially plan to start my comment like this, but your inclusion of the iphone’s debut date feels super important to me; it made me realize that it was inevitable for us to become attached to our phones, especially being born 2008-2009. I’ve seen some people say that Gen Alpha is the first generation to be born with technology plopped right in front of their eyes, but the impacts of the technology on us (us being the people who grew up alongside it) almost seem prophetic. I remember at orientation(?) before freshman year, the people leading my group wanted us to do an activity, and obviously that means someone has to be the first to go. I ended up being the first to go, but it was jarring because of the “stationary silence.” That’s such a good way to describe it by the way, I feel like most people I know are one or the other, it feels weird to be both because it sounds like that person is a step above dead. I do have an “erm actually” rebuttal for the lack of phones in dreams; earlier last year I was experiencing weird daydreams (because of a lack of sleep) and it became very hard to distinguish reality from what I was dreaming about because sometimes I would open my phone and text and see and scroll through things that never actually existed. It was very creepy, especially actually waking up and not seeing those conversations. But I digress! Great blog as always, will be taking that recommendation!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alex FrancavillaApril 22, 2026 at 9:26 PM

    To be slightly nitpicky, saying that “technology” is the cause of our society’s current isolation isn’t fully correct, as technology is truly just the application of science to solve problems. But I definitely agree with your stance on the detriments of phone usage, particularly in the context of social media. Phones and cellular technology to our generation was novel and exciting in its early years of development, fueled arguably by passion for technological advancement more than anything else. Some of my best memories involved playing video games like Minecraft on my iPad with my brother, where physical interaction and computers uplifted each other. But now, more than ever, the novelty has worn off, with corporate greed taking over the reigns. I specifically have a problem with profit-hungry social media companies, where downright psychological manipulation of its consumers has become near standardized in all but a few platforms. And even though that continues to alienate the youngest generations of the world, I can feel a little better knowing we are conscious of our exploitation and are fighting against it. Impressive writing as always; your mastery over vocabulary never fails to blow me away at times.

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