By Mackenzie Hawe
Contributing Writer
“What if one day this year we rode buses, ate meals, walked around campus and sat in class, totally phone free?”
This question prompted Olivia Moore to create the group “UNH Phone Free Day.” Seven hundred sixty-five University New Hampshire students pledged to participate in the event which was held last Thursday.
In a world that has been consumed by technology and the constant need to be “in the know,” students pledged to take time out of their days to stop tuning in to their phones and tune in to the Durham community instead.
Moore decided to do her part in getting the UNH campus to come together face-to-face.
“I was on the bus one day surrounded by people on their phones, as always and it occurred to me how striking it would be if one day no one had their phones out all across campus,” said Moore, explaining why she created the event.
“It was nice to kind of force yourself to have interactions with people. Not that it was difficult, but you felt more confident to go up to someone and not spend time on social media,” said Nick Alley, a sophomore.
TIME magazine conducted a survey in 2012 about cellphone usage that revealed that 84 percent of people said they couldn’t go a single day without their phones.
“At first it was like losing a limb, but as I got used to it I didn’t have a problem,” said junior James Hayden.
According to a website called Statista.com, it was predicted that by 2014, 63.2 million people would own iPhones in the United States. Although it is unclear as to the number of people who actively use an iPhone, Statista.com reports that 169.22 million iPhones were sold in 2014.
“iPhones have become frighteningly essential to so many of our lives and even identities. It is important to realize why we feel that way, for it’s due to powerful industry as much as culture,” Moore said.
“In this generation we have the most networking ever but we are the least connected,” Hayden said, corroborating Moore’s concern.