This society is so obsessed with technology, possibly because it is right at our fingertips and instant communication has become so easy.

Society is addicted to their cellular devices because of the instant ability to create new posts, tweets, vines and uploads. It is as if our phones have taken over our lives. We cannot help but to check our phones every 5 seconds or have our faces buried into our text messages.

And unfortunately, the power of social media is all around us – walking around Judson, you might have already bumped into another student on accident because they, and you, were on the phone. It is simple common courtesy. With notifications popping up all the time and text messages being sent almost every second, it is no wonder teenagers never put their phones down. Frankly, some adults are to blame, too.

Phones have become a big problem in school. Students are so attached to them, sometimes forgetting that we cannot have them out. Students get so used to listening to music or glancing at their screens to check the time while not in class that they pull out their phones in class, not realizing that this is against school and district policy.

People have created addicting games for phones and iPod’s that make teens want to keep playing and never want to put down their phone. Some students go through a whole school day with headphones in their ears, walking around obvious to the world around them.

Just for a second, put the phone away, and pay attention to other things. If teens turned off their phones and stopped tweeting and posting pictures, then there just may be less… drama. Let us be honest, much of the issues that happen at school begin outside of school, are amplified through social media, and brought back into the hallways where we should be getting our education.

We basically have “life” at our fingertips. We can talk to anyone, create a persona online, see other people’s lives through pictures, listen to music and get information for almost anything we need or want to know. But what our generation does not realize is how dangerous it has become to constantly be looking down to an electronic device smaller than a male’s wallet.

People have become so addicted with their hand held devices that they start to shut down the “real world.” Do people still play outside, and come back in when the lights go down? You could probably do that in an app, so why go outside?

And when teens do hangout, they are most likely playing on their phone, listening to music, or taking selfies. No one takes the time to actually meet and actually talk and get to know someone anymore. With so much texting and calling, all the new instant messaging apps for phones, who would need to go meet a person face to face? We, as a society, are losing out interpersonal skills.

We should be aware of how much we use our phones during the school day, and think about possibly turning them off, focusing on school, and… start living.