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Moon Retzer | Opinion | April
Everything needs to be connected to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, an app, or some sort of subscription service. I can admit that these things can be useful and I even participate in them. I bluetooth my phone to my car radio so I can play music on the way to school. I pay for various subscription services. I own personal devices that need Wi-Fi in order to work. I own apps to get points at my favorite coffee shop. I am literally in the pool that I swear is making my life worse.
However, in honesty, I don’t even like the stuff that I do use. The apps are buggy. The
Wi-fi is slow, meaning my devices are slower. The subscriptions are stupidly expensive and Spotify keeps upping their prices every few months. In addition, bluetooth sometimes just straight up won’t work.
I try to not think too hard about how badly devices have taken over not only my life but everyone around me. Whenever I hang out with friends, there is always a point in our hangout where we just start scrolling on our phones. Hours could go by, and we’d be none-the-wiser.
On top of that, our mindless entertainment is becoming just that: mindless. Reddit stories that make no sense plague my feed on TikTok and Instagram Reels, a drama that tries to suck every inch of engagement from my fingertips. I honestly keep scrolling for the hope that I don’t find one of these Reddit stories or maybe avoid the movie clips with AI-generated text overtop, but that’s all the internet is anymore: and somehow I keep scrolling.
Can I talk about the apps too? The apps companies push for their products actually suck. I got an LED light curtain for Christmas two years ago. This curtain could use an app that lets you change the light color to whatever you wanted and make custom designs. I was excited, downloaded the app, and tried to connect it with my lights. Nothing. It never worked. I tried looking it up and it turns out it needed me to pay for a monthly subscription service to use the customize feature.
Needless to say, I was fuming.
I can’t have custom lights without paying a subscription, I can't even listen to the radio without a subscription. You read that right: have you ever heard Sirius XM? You have to PAY to use that. You could use the normal radio where the ad to music ratio is more unbalanced than a feather versus an elephant. Bluetoothing to my car is also a reminder of a subscription, because I use Spotify to play music. I won’t use a free service because I don’t want to crash my car trying to skip an ad.
Ads are everywhere. Games are giving us ads. Youtube prolonged their advertisements, Tiktok has more ads and is getting better at hiding the fact it's an ad until the last few seconds of the video. On top of that, the ads are constantly lying! How many times am I going to see this woman freezing to death with her children and the player not even having half a brain cell to play the game right? Well it doesn't matter, because that’s not even the game being advertised.
I’m also getting tired of technology being shoved into everything. A litterbox does not need an app. I do not need a notification every time my cat poops. A microwave or a fridge does not need to be a computer. Companies are attempting to modernize everything around us when it doesn't need to be.
I find myself getting more and more irritated with day to day life, and sometimes, I feel like it’s impossible to get away from it. Something I’ve tried doing is stepping away from technology. I admit, the state law pertaining to phones in school has done one thing for me, and that thing is getting me away from my phone.
I’ve recently picked up reading physical books again. I usually read books on Kindle, but I’ve found that having something physically in your hands is better than that of a device. I can see the progress I’ve made in a book. Also, my eyes hurt less after reading. I’ve started enjoying hanging out with my friends more during lunch and my off periods. I also feel like I communicate more during class.
It’s easy for the state of the world to really kill everyone’s spirit and make that feeling of hopelessness fester, but in all honesty, there is a way to get away from it. Technology isn't going away. But it is important to step away from electronics and live in the real world. Even going to work can count as going out and being away from screens. As long as I am not stuck in a doomscroll on Tiktok, I see it as a win. I’m starting to learn how to balance my online life with my real life, and that is a skill I think everyone should start learning how to do.
We at The Courier have written articles about AI, going outside, tech detoxes, etc. The world is rapidly changing. We’ve talked about what AI is doing, how it’s evolving the world around us. It’s stressful, because even though AI is good, it is doing serious, irreparable harm to the climate, to artists, and to us as a human race. It’s okay to be overwhelmed, if anything, it’s what makes us human. This article is here to stress the importance of going outside and pulling yourself away from the source of major stresses.
Can I ever fully escape everything? Can I ever fully run from the subscriptions and the annoying ads, apps, bluetooth devices and wi-fi routers? No, it’s physically impossible, but I constantly find myself overwhelmed by the world around me getting more and more complicated when it doesn't have to be. Finding those little ways to distance myself from this reality has helped me balance my online life with my real one. Though I think the phone law has its serious blind spots, I can still see how it is actually helping the student body as a whole.
About The Writer: Moon Retzer, Editor-in-Chief
Moon Retzer is the Editor-in-Chief of the 2025-2026 Courier Staff. They have been writing for The Courier for 3 years. Moon loves to write, writing short stories in their free time. In addition, they love reading all kinds of the books and stories online. Moon's favorite articles to write are Opinion and Feature pieces.
Moon Retzer is the Editor-in-Chief of the 2025-2026 Courier Staff. They have been writing for The Courier for 3 years. Moon loves to write, writing short stories in their free time. In addition, they love reading all kinds of the books and stories online. Moon's favorite articles to write are Opinion and Feature pieces.
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