While I’m chilling slapping, “Count Up” by 10YP, I see Karim trying to get my attention. Putting on those headphones is a sign to leave me alone. Whatever Karim is trying to tell me better be important or funny, because if it is not I’m probably going to ignore Karim for the rest of the day. It is a waste of energy to pause the song, take your headphones off, and then listen to whatever is about to be said. Whenever someone is trying to get my attention when the best part of the song is on, taking the earbuds off is like taking my soul out of my body, even though it is not that serious.

I can’t stand to be interrupted by someone when they know I’m listening to music. Sometimes I ask myself, “Why didn’t he or she ask before I turned the music on?” I don’t get how someone can have something important to say right when you put the headphones on. That’s like me being with you for the whole day, just happily walking around, but then when you are having a conversation, I interrupt you to tell you that your shoes are untied.

Karim is a good friend, and a part of me wants to ignore him, but the other part tells me to listen to whatever he is going to say. I can always replay the song over. “Do you enjoy having time to yourself, but always feel a little guilty about it?,” Gareth Cook writes in a article on introverts in Scientific American. I can relate to this question because I don’t want to be disrespectful and not listen.

Some adults might say this is a problem teenagers have with our phones. They say people with phones are not as social as people without phones. It might seem like I am trying to block people out of my life by being on my phone and listening to music. But that’s not the case. Music, to me, is used for relaxing my mind.

“Children learn by watching us how to have a conversation, how to read other people’s facial expressions. If that’s not happening, children are missing out on important development milestones,” said Dr. Jenny Radesky told the New York Times. Let’s be real: there are some kids and even adults who are on their phones all the time. Radesky should chill out. In my opinion, I think a phone does not play a part in missing out on important development. I think I can speak for most people who think playing music on their phone helps them stay calm and stay focused.

There are different ways to learn how to have conversations. Nowadays we have television and YouTube if we want to learn to read other people’s facial expression if it’s really important to see when someone is sad, mad, or happy while having a conversation.

I’m not saying stay on your phone throughout the whole day. Sometimes I can catch myself paying more attention to my phone than the teacher. Not everybody is addicted to the phone. But we can also use our phones in good ways like finding out about current events. We are all titled to our own opinion on this topic. Sometimes I need times to myself, and music can help me separate myself from others. It’s nothing personal. I think I’m not the only one.