Blog #8

I can remember so vividly where I was when I found out how badly I wanted – needed – an iPhone. I was at a friend’s birthday party and his big gift reveal was a new phone, an iPhone. Now before this moment, I was so very content with my slider phone. In fact, it was the best present I had gotten for my birthday a year earlier. I remember how cool I felt being the only girl in my grade with a slider phone that slid up as well as out to reveal not only a number pad but a keyboard. That phone defined my cool status in middle school. None of that mattered the second my friend pulled that iPhone out a gift bag. Suddenly my slider phone was not going to cut it. In order to keep my cool status, I was going to need to get an iPhone. I believe that getting the iPhone really shaped who I grew up to be. Before my iPhone, I did not really feel the need to be on the internet all the time. I really enjoyed reading and visiting my friends. I was also very content with who I was as a person. After getting an iPhone and discovering that social media apps were only a click away, I started to change. My whole life revolved around trying to one up my peers with my Facebook statuses. Trying to post the best pictures to show everyone just how great my life was. It is super embarrassing to look back on all my old photos and statuses, things I would not have had if I never had the iPhone. I think that having an iPhone with all these apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook really changed who I was and who I thought I was. I dealt with a lot of problems regarding my body thoughts. I started having to compete with all the other girls who mastered the art of the perfect selfie. I think if I had waited until I was out of the age where being liked, being the prettiest, and being the coolest was the most important things in my life; I would have less of these body issue problems today. Having this technology has made my life easier in some ways, but ultimately was the starting point for a lot of my problems.