Shots fired off behind us, and without hesitation, we picked up our pace. I checked to make sure all eight of us were together and continued to power forward, refusing to look at the possibility of what lay behind us. Times Square was filled with desperate scared eyes and everyone around us scattered into the nearest store. The air had become devoid of oxygen and the rules of common curtesy had vanished. Everyone silently grabbed their loved ones and desperately fled. Few words were exchanged until we reached the hotel a few blocks off of Times Square, but we all shared the same understanding and fear. Thankfully the sounds we heard weren’t gun shots, but we weren’t the only hyper-aware people running away from Times Square that night. This happened just last week during the Reese Henry sponsored business trip to New York City.

With all the access we have to immediate news, fear is ingrained within us. Our world is not becoming more dangerous; we are becoming more aware of the danger. With the help of social media and 24-hour news, we have all become more paranoid and suspicious of one another.

When we landed in the Big Apple a few days earlier, most of us were greeted with news pop ups informing us of an attack in NYC. A terrorist had run over and killed 8 people. Our parents received those same notifications and checked to make sure we were safe. Facebook alerted us to which people in NYC had marked themselves safe. For the rest of the night, my phone buzzed with hourly updates from every news source covering every possible aspect of the tragedy from an in-depth look at the terrorists last 24 hours to the specifications of the truck. We are all blessed to live in the safe bubble of Aspen, Colorado, but when we receive those notifications after landing in New York, we realized we were no longer protected by the mountains we call home.

The world can be a scary place if you make it into one, and the daily reminders aren’t helping. Technology has changed the way we communicate with each other in many ways, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized the role they play in spreading terror. Every individual attack is amplified around the world in a matter of minutes and immediately available to view at the tip of our fingers. Technology is only becoming increasingly more ingrained in our lives, and while it is important to stay informed, sometimes we all need to put the phones down in order to stay sane.