Collegiate Times

He said:

It's not an understatement to say that we are a very well connected society. People on different continents can talk to one another face to face in a matter of moments, concerned parents can track their high school kid's exploits, and people can express whole phrases with the typing of two or three letters. Our thoughts and ideas are much more accessible on a worldwide scale.

We as people have even managed to eliminate having to actually talk to one another when attempting to transport ideas to each other. Enter texting. The idea of texting originated with the Native Americans when one particular Native American girl was late for a party so her friends sent her 23 smoke signals in less than 10 minutes. She replied to every one of them.

On one hand, texting is fantastic because it eliminates having to be cordial with your friends. It saves time and they know you don't want to know how their day is. If something important is happening, they're going to tell you anyway. Most likely you'll read it on their blog. Instead, you can get straight to business: "Hungry?" "Chillax?" "What's the homework?"

Or at least that's how most guys are about it. Men aren't really into writing epically long discourses via text, unless there's a girl involved. Then they are Homer. Guys understand that girls have a special connection with their phones -- almost like spirit animals except instead of guidance, it sings "Wagon Wheel" and tells you about funny things that happened in Abercrombie.

At this point, direct human interaction is only a last resort. Only when we feel we really need to drive a point home is when we call. Otherwise, we just need to make sure that your thumbs work. How many times have you copped out on someone by using text instead of calling them so that you can spare yourself a little guilt? "Not tonight. Sorry, dood."

People tend to get tangled up in their technology. We have little phones that are also Web browsers, movie theaters, lawnmowers and mp3 players. Whole identities become based upon how many people have befriended them on MySpace or how many photos they have been tagged in. You're only as cool as your Facebook page, and some people really do judge one another by how they choose to present themselves on the Web. Which, I guess, is fair when you think about it. The site gives you a template over which you have total creative freedom in figuring out how to display yourself, so in a way it's an extension of how you would like people to see you. Which is why my Facebook features me dressed as different Transformers.

Then there are the people who play games such as World of Warcraft. Though the most dedicated of these individuals certainly surrender an amount of who they are to their technology, I actually really admire this demographic of people because they are just being honest with themselves -- more honest than either you or I, at least. Instead of having to hear about the multiple implications behind how your roommate pronounced "hi," they would rather be fighting dragons.

The fact that we are so connected and the subsequent result of what that has done to us as a people slightly frightens me. Is there a point that we have yet to reach when we will become too connected? The only way that technology could continue to impress me is to figure out how to improve the quality of my communication with others. For example, having my phone taser me through the receiver every time I try to drunk dial someone. Other than that, it might be nice to take a step back every once in awhile, look up at the sky and not wonder about its pixel rate.

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