As I sit here in my room, eyes locked on my computer screen, fingers typing in a bizarre yet systematic motion, I find it necessary, yet a bit hypocritical of myself, to discuss the disastrous fate of the future teenage generations.

Well, I’m just going to say it. We are doomed.

The idea of face-to-face communication is rapidly deteriorating right before our eyes. This calamity is as elusive as a sound wave and as dangerous as a ferocious beast.

Okay, I’ll calm down. But this is in no way a laughing matter. Think of the last time you were in a room with another person. Maybe you knew them, or recognized them from seeing a picture on a social network (while stalking a friend of a friend of a friend).

Did you:

A)   say hello?

B)   make eye contact?

C)   wave to the person in your effort to avoid conversation?

D)   avoid all interaction with the other person?

Most likely you chose the fourth option.  It didn’t even phase you in the moment, because the fourth option was just too simple. You were too compelled to choose it. You had someone to talk to anyways…at least something: your phone. So you took out the handy device from its secret hiding place, or maybe it was already in your hand, ready to be played with. After sliding your finger across the lock screen with ease, you entered right back into your realm, a world of games and entertainment, pictures of friends and updates on people’s lives. No contact was necessary with the person in the room because, well, you had your phone.

This route is often taken to avoid the dreaded “awkward situation”. Everyone has had one, and no one likes that uncomfortable feeling. But what did our parents do without cell phones? Did they crawl up in a corner to avoid being noticed? They probably just talked. Awkward or not, it just happened. And maybe, just maybe, they became friends with people they never thought they would be friends with. One conversation lead to another, and a new relationship was formed. And that, folks, is what our generation lacks. Whether you believe that we meet everyone for a reason or not, the virtual universe that finds shelter in our cell phones impedes our ability to converse with other people around us. We’ve been corrupted by a phobia of this social stigma of awkwardness, and, through this fear, we are ultimately creating a world of people withdrawn from the present, withdrawn from the “now”.

I was walking by two people at school today who were friends. At least they looked like friends from a distance, sitting together at a small table. However, as I walked closer, the two didn’t seem as though they were friends, but rather two students sitting at the same table, hypnotized by their cell phones. What is the point of being with people if you aren’t even interacting with them?

As I was saying earlier, I am being a bit hypocritical; I most definitely follow this trend of avoiding awkwardness. Cell phones have truly distorted the idea of communication and socialization. Why call someone when you can text them? Why study with someone at the library when you can video chat from your house? Why talk to someone when you can just go online and learn what all your other friends are up to? Sometimes, I have to tell myself to stop playing games (Candy Crush) and stop checking Instagram and Facebook every five seconds as if something life-changing were to happen as soon as I leave the app.  I tell myself to put my phone away, and just sit there and notice the world around me. And, when I do this, all I end up seeing is a world of people looking down, staring not to the ground, but into a whole different world. Everyone in his or her own little bubble, separated from everyone else. Honestly, we need to stop looking down and just look forward for once.