Tebben Lopez/the Mirror
Texting. Facebook. Twitter. These are all modes of technology that keep us posted every second of the day. We cannot fathom the thought of what our lives would be like without them. When things like our Blackberries, iPhones or computers crash, we feel it’s the end of the world because we can no longer tune into what everyone else is doing or thinking.
The truth of the matter is that our parents’ generation grew up without all this technology and turned out alright. They experienced more feelings of uncertainty and surprise. Up to a certain point they also experienced a better sense of individuality because their reactions were unique and they didn’t follow celebrities around on Twitter to see what they should eat or wear.
When it came to dating, our parents would sit around waiting for a phone call or hope to randomly bump into them at a party. Now a days, people ask each other out through texts, Facebook chat or email. It is a rare case when a guy/girl actually calls the person, perhaps due to the fear of rejection, communication skills or lack of confidence.
Dating especially throughout the college years has become late night hookups. Junior Brittany Baker says, “You don’t see guys asking girls out to dinner and a movie anymore and it’s a shame because it is truly more attractive when guys put themselves out there like that.” When people actually go out on dates you get to know the person on a more intimate level. You get to experience what the person is like in a social setting, without being under the influence, and what some of their likes/dislikes are.
When we are in class, our phones are constantly vibrating indicating that we are being tagged in a photo, someone just posted something on our wall, or our professor just sent us an email. We are part of the constant stream of consciousness, which leaves no room for anything to be spontaneous or unpredictable.
Since we are so connected, time has become indispensable to us. We want to make sure we respond to the latest tweet immediately, see that newly release photo album before it is edited and make sure we answer our texts in a timely manner depending on the sender. Junior Michael Ballesty adds, “We live in a word where time is key, but if we think about it, it is just a bunch of numbers dictating our lifestyle.”
Everything we do is now done online such as our statistics homework, submitting response papers and chatting with our relatives across seas. This makes life easier for us because we don’t have to worry about finding a pencil, looking through a dictionary to spell a word, or purchasing a stamp to send a letter. However, is having the luxury of having things done for us ruining our work habits?
As we were growing up we would work out math examples without a calculator and actually dedicate an hour to doing our homework, we would go through numerous of sources when writing a paper from a thesaurus to having our mothers proofread our papers, and we would actually try to be creative when making birthday cards to send to our cousin who lives in Dominican Republic.
Year after year technology is being integrated in our culture and the option of being “old fashioned” is less achievable. With innovations such as SMART boards, iPads and 3D televisions, things like blackboards, PCs, and square televisions are looked as “ancient.”
With all the new trends and appliances shaping society and constantly changing, we wonder what life will be like when we have children of our own. Is it even possible to go back to old traditions? How much more connected can we become if it already seems like connection has reached its peak.
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