This week, on June 29th, 2007 the iPhone was born. Happy Birthday to my cell phone. Of course, before 2007 there were many kinds of iPhones and other kinds of cell phones, but on June 29, 2007 the iPhone was sold in stores in the United States. After that the iPhone went all over the world.

The iPhone has two words to it. One is “phone” and the other is the “I”. Do you know what the meaning of the “I” is? The meaning of “I” is for “internet”, “individual”, “instruct”, “inform”, and “inspire”. This was the mission of the first iPhones. Maybe our cell phones can do all of these things. We get a lot of information. The phones are individual. We can give instructions.

But does a cell phone give you inspiration? That is a good question.

Maybe the cell phone, because it has some very strong tools for video creation, can give some inspiration. Also the iPhone is very good for taking photos as well. So, as a tool it can help us be creative.

But as you all know, too much time on a cell phone is not so great for you.

Some research about cell phone over-use is coming to us now. Here is a short list of things that are not great about using your cell phone too much.

First, too much cell phone use is not good for your hands, back, and your neck. When you use a cell phone too much you are not sitting in a good position. This can be bad for your body.

Second, too much cell phone use can give you stress. You need to go outside and look at nature. You can have some mental health problems from too much cell phone use.

Third, too much cell phone use is not good for your sleep. Did you sleep too late last night because of your cell phone? Many students are awake too long because of cell phones.

Fourth, too much cell phone use can make accidents. Some people are walking or riding a bicycle while using a cell phone. Please do not do that. It’s dangerous.

Fifth, too much cell phone use can make trouble with friends. If you are using only chat or messages for communication it is easy to make a mistake or to have a misunderstanding. Please be careful for this.

Sixth, too much cell phone use is not good for your eyes. The screen is too small and your eyes get tired very easily. Please do not look at your cell phone too long.

Maybe your teachers and parents are often talking to you about using your cell phone too much. There are some good reasons for that. Cell phones are really great tools and very useful for many things. But your life is bigger than your cell phone. Your face and your style and your feelings are bigger than Instagram. Your value is greater than all the cell phones in the world.

So, even though I am happy to have a cell phone because it is convenient, and maybe as a joke I can say, “Happy Birthday iPhone!”, we all know that friends and family and pets and music and art and fun and good food and many, many, more things are better than a cell phone.

Let’s give our cell phones a vacation sometimes and leave them off. Let’s see friends or enjoy sports or music with no cell phones sometimes. I hope that you have a great day today, and I hope that our cell phones can have more quiet, or silent days, so we can enjoy everything more and more.

Thank you very much and have a great day!