Sitting around the table enjoying a meal with family, your mom asks how your day was and your dad makes a classic joke when you mumble the usual “boring.” Your sibling goes on a 20-minute explanation of what happened during soccer at recess while you eat dessert. This may have been what family dinner looked like 10 years ago, but look around now. Phones are everywhere, and conversation has stopped. Times have changed, relationships are severed.

Constantly checking for updates, looking at emails, and stressing over battery life seem to be what the world makes the spotlight these days. Not only do the “likes” and “follows” cause self-obsession, but regularly looking at phones is distracting from family, friends, and a healthy life in general.

At the peak of Facebook, it was said everywhere that it was bringing long distance family and friends together. The same was said for Instagram. Now there are even more apps like Snapchat and Twitter that people profess the same claims. The issue is, all of these forms of social media make it hard for people to stay off of their phones.

With the amount of evolution in technology going from flip phones to smartphones and now to smart watches, it seems that being around others is not the same. There is nowhere that phones are not out or checked. Schools, restaurants, malls, and even church are places that people can’t get away from their phones, alerts, or messages.

Personal connections are not made because screens are dividing mankind. Looking around, people will sit right beside each other and instead of speaking, a series of messages will be sent back and forth as if they are unable to speak.

Aside from not being able to connect with others, people are becoming self-obsessed. The number of followers, likes, and notifications take over people’s lives. It is a constant battle with oneself about how to improve their numbers.

When self-obsession hits a certain point, people can become depressed for long periods of time and can have other health issues come about from the constant worry of their social status.

According to Newsela.com in an article entitled “Teen suicide rates rising, study says social media use could be a factor,” it had been suggested that suicide rates went up as social media use increased. The “perfect” image so often portrayed on social media hurts the self esteem of others leading to awful consequences.

Living has become filled with notifications, a lack of communication, and a block between human relationships.

Not only is it time for technology to take a step back in the lives of people, but it is time for people to understand that the constant use of a phone or computer is hurting society.

Without stopping to see that technology is hurting the world, problems will only increase. Usage of technology should slow down to help get the world back on track.