What do you do when you feel like telling the entire world what’s on your mind? You probably just reach for your phone. What about if you want to order new shoes? You can use your phone for that too. In fact, there really aren’t many things we can’t do on our phones. Most people rely on cell phones for everything and can’t leave the house without theirs. In our generation, we’re so obsessed that we’re willing to spend a ton of money on phone accessories. Just think about that for a second—we’re paying for something that we’ve already overpaid for. It doesn’t make much sense, but I’m definitely guilty.

The other day, my phone decided to stop working. I have an iPhone with Siri, which is voice command. All I have to do is tell my phone what to do and it can perform the action without me even having to press anything. Unfortunately, Siri has failed me. My phone has randomly been opening the voice command by itself, which has made it hard to finish a text, check email, or get on twitter. Siri even decided to call an ex of mine. Can you say “awkward?” I figured there would only be more bad moments to come, so I rushed down to the phone store. Within fifteen minutes there was a new iPhone being sent from the Apple store.

I was so relieved, but then it hit me—I would have to keep my old phone until the replacement arrived. I’m currently using my less than perfect phone and I feel like I might just die, which I admit is pretty pathetic. This led me to wonder if maybe I rely on my phone too much. I take it everywhere and almost have a heart attack whenever I drop it. I’m also obsessed with phone cases. I love having my case match my outfit, which is probably why I’m constantly looking for new accessories. Honestly, I don’t think I could function without my phone.

This was tested, however, when my family and I traveled to Finland over the summer. I couldn’t use my phone unless I had Wi-Fi, which means the only time I was connected to the world was at night in the hotel room. However, because of the eight hour time difference, it was hard to find a convenient time to talk to people, and I could only text people who also had an iPhone. This vacation taught me I could in fact live without a phone 24/7, and it was actually pretty nice to feel disconnected for a while. However, I’m definitely going to stick with being attached to my phone.

Take a moment to consider your relationship with your phone. Are you one of the millions of teens who can barely breathe without their phone safe in their possession? Cell phones have become a staple in our generation, and our dependence on technology as a form of communication has only just begun.