{"id":22333,"date":"2018-12-04T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=22333"},"modified":"2018-12-02T13:59:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T18:59:56","slug":"my-voice-put-down-the-phone-this-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/campus-life\/2018\/12\/04\/my-voice-put-down-the-phone-this-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"My Voice: Put Down the Phone this Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0With the holidays approaching, many of us will return home to be with family or we will spend it with our friends nearby. The holidays are a time to be with people and make memories. I have a challenge for you, readers. Would you let go of your media some this holiday?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Regardless of your religious beliefs or what holiday you will celebrate, we all have the next few weeks to be with people we love. Social media can get in the way, in a big way. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0We get caught up in posting our cute snow selfies, pictures of how \u201cperfect\u201d our Christmas tree looks this year, and \u201cwould you just look at my adorable hot chocolate?\u201d I know these pictures feel fun, but it really takes from our opportunity to enjoy our time with our loved ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t take any pictures, pictures are great and help keep the memory alive, but try not to worry too much about how many likes your posts got, or who has seen them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Every breath we breathe is a gift. Our life on this Earth is not promised, and we never know when we could leave this place. I hope each of us lives long lives, but embracing the reality that any moment could be your last is important. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Take advantage of those moments you spend with your family and friends. Tell your family you love them, never run out of hugs and always fill your conversation with kindness and laughter. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0I think we all get caught up in thinking that we have all this time so we should spend it in our comfort zone. I disagree. Do things that stretch you, safely of course. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Go visit a cool place with a group of friends, despite your social anxiety. \u00a0Eat foods you have been too afraid to try. Learn things about other cultures. Life will fly by, so make these moments on holiday break matter. Take advantage of these opportunities to make memories with the people you love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0And take advantage of opportunities to be giving this holiday. Volunteer at a local food shelter, buy a bunch of gloves and hand them out to people in need in your city or even make holiday cards for your local emergency response teams. Do something for someone else.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0So put down your phone when you feel the urge to Snapchat a picture about your brand new Apple Watch, or about the \u2018perfect life\u2019 we want everyone to think we have. I can tell you, my life is so far from perfect, but I am not ashamed of that. If my life was perfect, it would be so boring. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0So enjoy the little bumps in the road this holiday, and don\u2019t worry about them too much. Embrace them and have fun. Most of all, be thankful for the time you are alive and take no moment for granted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Kelsey Fitzpatrick<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Staff Writer<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0With the holidays approaching, many of us will return home to be with family or we will spend it with our friends nearby. The holidays are a time to be with people and make memories. I have a challenge for you, readers. Would you let go of your media some this holiday? \u00a0 \u00a0Regardless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":22359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2102,2217,2109,2106,2150],"tags":[2292,1878,2272,2848,441,2158,807,1407,1626,2849],"class_list":["post-22333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-my-voice","category-opinion","category-technology","category-world","tag-christmas","tag-family","tag-friends","tag-hanukkah","tag-holidays","tag-kelsey-fitzpatrick","tag-kwanzaa","tag-my-voice","tag-social-media","tag-winter-break"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/apple-email-iphone-17663.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-5Od","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22333"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22362,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22333\/revisions\/22362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}