Here’s the modern lament that comes out of so many of our mouths: If only people would get their noses out of their smartphones, we could return to the days when people really connected with each other and engaged in meaningful communication. Oh the perils of Facebook, Face Time, BuzzFeed, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Foursquare, and all of their digital cousins. For so many of us, life seems saturated with technology and with smartphone apps that seem to shape our contemporary identities. Isn’t it refreshing when we’re able to take a step back and reflect on the ways that the panoply of digital technology has taken over our lives? And it’s especially refreshing when these insights come out of the mouth of a thirteen-year-old, Emily Alford.
Emily Alford will be entering the 8th grade at the Gordon School in East Providence. She lives with her family in Providence.
