By Christopher Lessler
I love walking around Carnegie Mellon’s campus. Usually, I like to wave to my friends and enemies as I see them around campus. But when I’m on my phone, sometimes I only notice a passing friend after they’ve already passed. Sometimes I try waving to a friend who’s on their phone, and more often than not, they won’t notice. This is sad, simply because I think waving to a friend — especially a close friend or one you haven’t seen in forever — can make your day. And waving to a friend is far more satisfying than scrolling through the social media trend of the week.
All this is to say: Get off your phone when you’re walking. At least for me, this isn’t about how well people walk. Most people are aware enough of their surroundings to avoid bumping into anyone or anything, even when using phones. Does using a phone make you somewhat less likely to walk well? Surely. But I can tolerate sub-par walking — as long as you don’t run me over, we’re cool. The big issue I see in this is the trend of people not being mentally present while walking around. We live in a world where being distracted by technology is the norm. That’s simply not healthy.
Phone usage while walking is caused by a mix of the fear of missing out and boredom. We have gotten to the point where a quick walk between places on campus is considered boring enough to break out the phone. Okay, maybe walking around campus is boring. I agree. But that’s a good thing. Our school has a well-earned reputation for making its students work a lot, so when we’re not working we should give our brains a more complete break — including a break from electronics — when walking. The reaction to boredom should never be to burn time on phones. Either let yourself be bored, or find something truly engaging to do — emphasis on truly. And when walking between classes, give your brain a complete break and leave your phone in your pocket, or better yet, your bag.
I hesitate to say that this is entirely a problem of people becoming bored while walking. Part of it is simply that if you’re running between two classes and you only have 10 minutes to make it and you can’t check your phone during class, your walk is your only opportunity to check your phone for a while. For this reason, I’ve occasionally used my phone while walking around, though it’s a habit I’ve been relatively successful at kicking. But this also hints at a deeper problem: Why can’t we go for multiple classes on end without checking our phones? Our world revolves so much around electronics that even just a couple of hours without scrolling or checking notifications can be hugely mentally difficult. It’s a societal expectation that certain notifications must be responded to as soon as they’re seen. I personally like to see notifications immediately when they come out, not because I need to act on them instantly, but rather just so I have something to stimulate me. Getting a phone buzz makes me want to check my phone at that very moment, just because I can. Resisting that is a lot harder than I feel it should be. The constant, overwhelming flow of notifications is a big problem, and it realistically will not be solved at a societal level anytime soon. But ultimately, we’re each in charge of how often we check our phones. We can buck that societal trend, with the very good reason that we’ll be more present in our lives if we do.
In the grand scheme of things, technology will likely become a bigger and bigger part of our lives, and there’s nothing you or I can do about that. But despite that, I’d like to see more students here reclaim at least their walks from the incessant distractions of technology. That alone could make campus a less dreary and more welcoming environment.
Leave a Reply