[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]“Hey, what’s your cell phone number?”

Whenever I get that question, I go into a state of panic. I nervously start looking around, avoiding eye contact. I always take few seconds before answering:

“Oh, yeah, I don’t have a phone.”

I just sit there embarrassed and start answering their follow-up questions. Most people ask me what I do with my life, how do I live my life, if I even have a life? Who knows. Usually, I turn to the book in my hand for the answer to their questions. I do have a life, thousands of them actually, through reading.

Every time I go to a family event, the older people are always complaining about “kids these days and their fancy technology.” I have the urge to burst out and tell them that I’m a 17-year-old girl who does not have a phone, and I am living just fine without it. But it was their generation that was introduced to new technology as well.

Without realizing it, we are doing the same thing with our younger generation. My 12-year-old sister is constantly begging my parents to buy her an iPhone 5. She does not need it, but she wants it. I tell her to go outside or do something productive.

I think having a cell phone restricts a person’s life. Personally, having a cell phone would stunt my creativity. How could being so focused on the lives of others help me live a life that is mine?

There are upsides and downsides to having a phone and not having a phone. The benefits of having a phone are being more connected to family and friends and being able to reach them the instant you need them. The downside to having a phone from observation and personal experience include getting too distracted in class, texting while the teacher is giving a lesson, and disrespecting the students trying to learn.

Not having a phone is pretty much the opposite, but the pro is that I notice things more, I observe the world more, I quickly learned how to read people, I have great hearing. But ironically, I have pretty bad eyesight, and I am more used to getting my work done faster than my peers even though I procrastinate a lot. The downside is I cannot alert people if I am ever in trouble. No one ever knows how to reach me, considering the fact that I do have social media, surprisingly enough. I am nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

The most awkward thing about not having a phone is trying to communicate with my friends through calling and/or texting through my parent’s cell phone. A cell phone is supposed to be something that gives you privacy with your friends, but also something to distracts you from your family. For me, there is no divide.

During my Austin trip this past weekend, I did feel a little envious for not having a phone and immediately taking pictures and sharing with my friends and the staff about my adventures. I felt like a third wheel, left out of the group and conversation. In the end I realized that having a phone would be nice, but I still prefer communicating in person.

Do I want a phone? Someday, maybe, in the distant future. Just not today.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]