Disconnect by Colin Kowalski

The Wednesday before the holiday break, in English class we read two articles and spoke about how it is beneficial to disconnect from the phones for 24 hours. While there were many good reasons supporting this argument, such as becoming bored more easily and being more relaxed, I immediately rejected this idea because I only saw the positives in phones. Phones, to me, were devices that could immediately put you in contact with your friends non-stop and kept you in the know.

However, the benefits of disconnecting became evident over the last week, when I went on a ski trip to Val Thorens with my family. Val Thorens is the largest ski resort in the world at the highest altitude, located in France. I was jovial to hear about it being one of the most renowned ski resorts in the world but I was disappointed when I heard of its remote location because I knew there would be no data or WiFi. I instinctively downloaded multiple movies in case I got bored. However, this boredom never occurred. Instead of being bored at the times we weren't skiing, I found myself spending time with my family, helping my mom put out platters of Charcuterie, Baguette, and Beaufort (the famous French Cheese from that region) for us and our French friends, and most of all, playing card games with my siblings. I never thought I'd spend time with my dad teaching my little brother and sister how to play poker with M&M's or learning French card games called Skyjo and Phase 10, and playing these games for an hour or two each day. When I got very bored, I even found myself reading The Good Earth! Throughout all of this, even when my dad offered me his hotspot for 10 minutes, I never found myself reaching for my phone, but rather for the deck of cards or the M&M's.

So, I decided to take a look at my average screen time over the last couple of weeks and compare it to what I did and how I felt that week, just to see if this really was a good idea. Over the course of the weeks of Dec. 8 and Dec. 15, I found myself on my phone for about 5 hours a day, usually spending this time procrastinating homework, involving myself with drama, or getting sucked into TikTok, and not really spending any time with my family as a result. I was just keeping to myself and escaping into my phone. However, this past week, the week of Dec. 22, I was only on my phone for 1-2 hours each day, usually using this to take videos of my family skiing or sending and receiving pictures from the day's adventures on the slopes. One day, I was only on my phone for 5 minutes outside of sending and receiving pictures! This limitation forced me to unplug from my phone and try new things with my family (whether that be trying cheese or teaching poker), and this created an unmatched experience for our family where we really spent quality family time together.

So, I guess that when we disconnect from our phones, we somehow connect to what really matters.