Collegiate Times

I

 was taken aback by a recent Facebook status, not because it was shocking, but because it occurred to me how reliant we have become on technology.

Whether we rely on Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, iPhones, iPods or what-have-you, most individuals are connected to technology and the Internet at all times one way or another. Those who somehow manage to disconnect seem odd to the rest of us, when in fact it should be the other way around.

What have we gained from the interconnectivity of the world around us? Now we do not need to remember birthdays or anniversaries, we can skim through an article and just pull it up later when we need to recall the facts, and we don’t have to be face-to-face any more. As a society, we seem to be losing our social abilities.

This loss of contact — actual, physical contact — is just the beginning. We are losing more than our ability to interact; we are imparting on the youth of society the idea they can do everything through their bits and pieces of technology and access to the Internet. I see the potential, I do, but I see the damage that could be done and the damage that has already occurred.

My generation had computers in the home at the age of six or seven, at least I did. I’ve been using them ever since, and I know for a fact that I could never not have a computer. I live on mine, I rely on it, for my useless Internet wanderings and my schoolwork and my travel and my shopping and the list keeps going.

Is it convenient? Unquestionably. Does it contribute to my life? Maybe. Could I live without it?

Could any of us live without Facebook? Could any of us revert to the caveman-like days where the Internet was only there for research and e-mail? I doubt it.

I have tried, too.  

I deleted my Facebook account at the end of last spring semester, and for the entire summer it went swimmingly. I did not even want to be on Facebook. All of my friends were home, I was home, and I called whomever I wanted to talk to. I have to say it was nice being unavailable to everyone I had been “friends” with. If they wanted to talk they had to call, text, e-mail, etc. I was not completely free from the Internet, but I had definitely reverted.

There was no problem until I came back to Virginia Tech for the fall semester. All my Virginia friends were on Facebook, and I was not. I texted and called, and so did they, but the convenience of Facebook was undoubtedly missing. I had to go back.

The problem was not the will to communicate, but the effort we put into it. Facebook is more convenient than anything else — a problem I eventually realized — and because almost everyone (our age) we encounter uses it, it is the prime force of communication. So what does this mean for the future? Where will this take us?

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A version of this article appeared in the Oct 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.