Everyday, hundreds of students walk around SF State with one thing in common: looking down at their phone. This is how we portray our generation to the rest of the world.
Students are scrolling through their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or taking a selfie to send a Snapchat. They are not aware of their surroundings, causing them to trip over stairs, walk into other people or make them an easy target for theft. At first glance, you would think they are staring at their shoes.
As our generation continues to grow and innovate, we need to put less emphasis on technology. We need to keep a limit of how much of it we use and our reliance on it. We need to learn to put a cap on whatever we use.
Last year 91 percent of Americans had a cellphone compared to 65 percent in 2004, according to the Pew Center of Research.
Our generation has been exposed to new and innovative technology that makes living life more efficient. We are a generation that loves things to be done quickly and efficiently. This is transforming us into impatient human beings.
According to a 2012 TIME Mobile Poll, 84 percent of people worldwide cannot go a day without their mobile device in their hand. It also concluded that one in four people check their phone every 30 minutes. In this day and age, as human beings we cannot live without mobile devices. We have become reliant on our handheld objects.
With big technology companies like Microsoft and Apple constantly coming up with new pieces of technology, it’s hard to keep up. We are in constant fear of not fitting in with the rest of society so we resort to buying the newest $700 smartphone.
Our generation is claimed to be called Generation Z. Within this, are people born between 1995-2012. Generation Y are people born between 1977-1994. Generation Z have been alive for about 17 years now. They have been born into this generation full of new technology. While Generation Y has had technology, but only to a certain extent; only a few laptops and cellphones were being made during this time. Generation Z will not take advantage of what kind of technology they are lucky to have.
A glimpse into public transit reveals people staring at their phones texting, Googling, listening to music and doing anything else one can think of. Riders are specifically warned not to look down at their phones while riding Muni. When one looks down at their phone, they are oblivious of their surroundings and allow themselves to be vulnerable to criminals.
In San Francisco, half of the robberies in 2012 were related to cell phones and most occurred on the bus lines, according to an article in the Huffington Post.
We are heading into a direction where every minute of our lives will be controlled by technology. Although we continue to grow in this field, self-awareness is essential. We need to start taking a step toward solving the problem of the dependency we have on our technology.
We need to be thankful for what is out there, not posting another status on Facebook. Especially here in San Francisco, where the views are endless. Take advantage for what the adventures that can be discovered out in the real world.
When we begin to learn different ways to lessen our technology reliance, we will begin to end this epidemic. We need to learn to control technology, not let it control us. Stay off that phone, study for those exams.
