Is technology taking over?

Read a 300-page politics novel. Pick out an outfit for Thursday night. Send Grandma a birthday card. Copy the philosophy notes. Check friend requests on Facebook.

With all these thoughts occupying the minds of Fairfield students, it seems there is no time to say thank you to the lunch lady.

Complaining of constant busyness, most students agree that there are simply not enough hours in the day. As a result, no one has the time to engage in a five-minute chat during the daily hustle of college life.

Students believe that effort made toward engaging in a conversation can be met with the removal of headphones, but that technology still runs our lives.

“Technology has taken the place of human-to-human communication,” said Jeanne DiMuzio, director of the Wellness and Prevention Center, adding that students are more inclined to form virtual connections with fellow students.

Technology is an easy, effective, no-hassle way of connecting to people and information. But the no-hassle attitude of our generation goes beyond Fairfield University. It is a trend that America faces as a whole.

Most students spend their free time either downloading music or playing video games, preferring activities with either little or no human interaction.

“Everyone has at least one type of game system in their dorm room,” said Jeff Middleton ’08.

“Technology devices, which are supposed to make our lives easier, only added more pressure,” Ronald Salafia, professor of psychology at Fairfield, told the Connecticut Post in an Oct. 15 article.

In combination with the advancement of technology and more hectic lifestyles, Salafia cannot attribute cutting down on chatter to either rudeness or self-absorption.

“I think rudeness is how someone treats you when you encounter them,” said Lena Carlucci ’08. “You can’t tell someone’s rude if they’re walking down the street listening to music.”

Many students believe they have not become ruder but rather they are unavailable for interaction because they lack time and need personal space.

“Students commonly make phone calls while walking to class because that is the only time they have alone,” said Ali Fell ’08.

Others say they do not stop to talk to their friends because they are always late for class. An impersonal exchange of “What’s up?” in passing will suffice. That is, if students even take the time to exchange any words at all.

“I usually leave my dorm for my 2 p.m. class at 1:57 p.m.,” said Kristine MacKenzie ’08. “So stopping to talk is not a priority.”

It is a fact that students lead a hectic and busy lifestyle full of pressures, both social and academic. Students’ daily schedules 20 years ago allowed for brief moments of social interaction.

Nonetheless, in today’s busy world, students value those few moments before class where they get to enjoy quiet time more than interpersonal interaction.

“It is a must to carry my i-pod, cell phone, cigarettes and have my shades on at all times, because I need to be in my own little world for those few minutes I have alone while walking to class,” said Mariana Rosario ’08.