We live in 2016. The world is nowadays connected via the internet, the world is nowadays the internet. So I don’t feel afraid to claim we all have experienced the terrifying moment of anxiety when you feel like your heart has stopped as your device reports no WiFi connection.
Hearing my younger sister scream in agony last Wednesday at Grandma’s, I realized that this moment had come. My palms started to sweat and I felt like I was going to faint. I had the train of thought everyone understands: “how?”, “why?” and “I’m doomed”. Can you believe I had no idea what to do? Every attempt to amuse ended up with tears. Chat with friends via Whatsapp? Impossible. Scroll through the Instagram feed? Funny, keep going.
I had to help my Nanna cooking. Let alone I helped, a clear pro, I also realized I am absolutely addicted to WiFi. I didn’t think it was this bad until I took this test and realized it actually was.
Speaking about addictions, there is also a phobia called nomophobia. That means ‘no-mobile-phone-phobia’ and is described as a fear of no battery, signal or internet connection. There’s also a lot of tests like this one that you can take to find out if you are a nomophobe.
Are we really that weak that we cannot tear ourselves away from the technology?
Personally, yes. I take my phone everywhere I go and check it every minute to see whether I have new notifications. And when I have no notifications? Easy! Scroll through social media. I have my phone right beside me right now, while writing this – and yes, I just checked it.
At the end of the day, I’m a total disaster with and without WiFi too. With my sense of orientation and without any company, I definitely feel much safer when I can check Google maps to make sure I’m on the right bus or this really is the best way because that other street is closed due to roadwork. But then, when I’m too busy choosing the right Spotify playlist for this journey, I can accidentally fall into an open sewer. Did it happen? No. How close was I? Very.
So what can I do to fend off an unwanted embarrassing injury? Should I throw the phone into the sewer instead of jumping in it in hope I’ll hide from the internet? Or avoid the internet in general? How? It’s literally everywhere so my effort would be considered brave, yet silly and senseless.
But then, let’s not forget how great the internet is with keeping you in touch with the world. It’s a source of instant news, information and amusement. To be brutally honest, my school results would be much worse if it wasn’t for the internet. I also have found a lot of friends via social media and other platforms. We all would have a very hard time without our WiFi connection.
I don’t think we need to learn how to stop using the internet – we would have no chance of survival. It’s more about learning how to spend the time properly and how to stay safe while using it.
I’m Sonia, a teenager in 21th century and I’m addicted to the internet. And I can live with that.
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