Sydney Reed is a Spartan Daily staff writer.
Technology has taken over the world and ruined the way we think and communicate with each other on a number of levels, and has hurt our relationships with family, friends and?significant others.
Children as young as 2 years old are playing games on iPads or watching movies to keep them occupied when they should be out having play dates and enjoying time with their parents. Smartphones are being handed out to 7-year-olds for birthdays and Christmases.
The Internet has become the new place to shop, sell items, meet your next boyfriend?or?girlfriend, and find new friends while reconnecting with old ones.? Everything a person needs or wants is right in front of them at all times.
There was a time when social networks and cellphones didn?t consume our lives, but now it?s a drug, and we?re pretty much all addicted.
In Beyonc??s documentary ?Life Is But A Dream? on HBO she said, ?I think people are so brainwashed. You get up in the morning, you click on the computer and you see all these pictures and all you think of is the picture and the image that you see all day, every day. You don?t see the human form.?
Her quote has truth written all over it. With the creation of smartphones also came the creation of applications such as Piniterest, Instagram, We Heart It and of course we can?t forget?our favorite social sites: Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
As soon as we awake in the morning a lot of?us go straight to our phones or laptops, which are already right next to our heads, to go on these apps and?sites. They haven?t brushed their teeth or combed their hair.
Sometimes we have no words or pictures to post, so instead we lurk people?s pages trying to find out what?s going on in their lives. We ?begin to form opinions based on what we see, but how do we know a person is ?living the life their social networks portray if we do not speak to or know them personally?
If you were to ask one of your friends or an acquaintance if they knew who I was they?d probably say, ?Oh yeah, Sydney, I follow her on Twitter??? but does that make them know me on a personal level? Not really. They may know some of my random thoughts and how I look but that?s about it.
Family time is no longer family time. Everyone has?a cellphone or a laptop out and does their own thing?in each other?s presence.
Just this past Christmas my family got together and there wasn?t one piece technology that was ignored. My little sister would sneak away to talk on her phone for hours, my godsister was consumed with her laptop and smartphone and filtered Instagram photos?seemed to be?the only reason for capturing memories.
Before all of this technology came along we?d watch movies together, or sit around and tell stories and play board games.
I doubt families even sit together at a kitchen table anymore to have a family dinner and if they do at least one person is on the phone.?Perhaps the whole family is in the living room eating?and watching ?Catfish.?
Friendships aren?t physical anymore because of technology. More time is spent sending group messages than actually spending time together.
The hours spent texting could be time spent catching up over a drink and lunch. You'd think friends that live no more than 30 minutes?apart?live a million miles away because they resort to seeing each other on Instagram or through Skype instead of taking a quick car ride.
Before technology came along my friends and I would discuss when and where we were going to meet up. We didn?t spend the entire day checking-in through text. Most of us lived next to each other so we?d walk to each other?s houses and hang out until?it was time to go?home.
Technology can also ruin a friendship because of a lack of communication. He-says-she-says subtweets start flying around Twitter and?build?up to a confrontation. People get egged on, and instead of handling a situation in a mature manner they result to blasting each others' personal business on the Internet for millions to see when they could have made a simple phone call.
Relationships today aren?t the same either. People don?t write love letters or show up at your door with flowers and candy. Today?s relationships involve sending each other pictures and texting all night.
A few years ago it was OK to fall asleep on the phone together. It showed how much a person really liked talking to you, hearing your voice and laugh. When you went out on dates it was nice to get a call from the other person saying they?re on the way and then hear a knock at the door.
Now it?s just an ?I?m outside? text message. During the date the two of you are no longer having conversations with each other but with the people in your phone. It makes me happy when I actually see couples on a date enjoying each others' company instead of looking bored with one another.
Technology has taken the excitement out of life.
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Source: http://spartandaily.com/100096/lack-of-communication-blame-technology
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