My Film's Purpose

As I was browsing through the internet, I came across an article about a 13-year-old girl who jumped onto the subway tracks in Queens to retrieve her phone. She was pronounced dead at Elmurst Hospital Center. As I was reading the article all I kept saying to myself is "this is why I'm doing what I'm doing." I'm sure the girl didn't realize the danger of jumping on the tracks, but why was it her first instinct to put her life on the line for a cell phone? I know what it's like to be a naive middle schooler, but I can't help but wonder if someone older, someone "wiser" would do this sort of thing. Then I realized that they do; everyday people risk their lives by texting and driving or driving with headphones on. The latter, by the way, is absolutely ridiculous since listening to music through speakers is much better. But it baffles me how this obsession has lead us to walk along the line of life and death. This encompasses the main purpose of my film, which is to demonstrate how this obsession we have with our phones has reached the point where it becomes dangerous. Although this is just a project that won't be seen by many, I hope that just by showing this to my peers, it can make them more aware and lead them to make a change in their lives. Through this process, as I mentioned previously, I came to realize how much I consume media and how it's my instinct to just scroll through Twitter whenever I'm bored. Well, I stayed off of Twitter for a full 2 weeks and now I only go on occasionally. This may not seem like a big deal, but I feel that now I have more time, I'm not just wasting it reading insignificant posts. If just creating this film opening has made some sort of impact on me, I hope that it can do the same for someone else.