Ever since I got my iPhone, I have found myself terribly dependent on it. However, I know I’m not alone. It seems like these days, smart phones have been taking over our lives.
Our generation has been so dependent and addicted to technology that having a miniature-sized computer easily accessible at all times, doesn’t make things easier.
Why wouldn’t anyone want one?
While in class, I notice that the majority of people have their phone peaking out of their purses or pockets, just to be able to see if they get a new notification. We have all done it, no matter how many times our professors have told us to put them away.
At restaurants, I have noticed that people have their phones set on the table or sometimes they are using them and are completely ignoring each other.
Is this what it has come to? Not being able to enjoy lunch with someone because our thoughts are consumed with what new notifications we are going to get next.
The fact that before watching a movie in the theaters they now have a request displayed before the film starts stating, “Please put your phones on silent as well as no texting.”
We are being asked not to text? That is definitely a sign that a majority of us don’t have the resistance to not respond when we feel our cell phones vibrate through our pockets. We have become so used to the idea of using our comput ers as the main form of comu nication such as texting, e- mailing and Facebooking, that we are losing verbal contact with one another and forget ting what it is like to make friends in person, rather than on social networks.
We cannot let our technology take over our social skills, it is still important to communicate verbally and we must remember that.
I wish I could say, “It’s just a phone”, but in reality it’s not. We have access to the Web, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, GPS, Facetime, games, the radio and we even have access to our own bank accounts.
No wonder people are so glued to their cell phones, It has everything to make your life convenient, all in a device that fits in the palm of your hands.
As if Facebook wasn’t addicting enough, we now have a Facebook “app” that allows us to check our newsfeeds and become that “Facebook lurker” that we all love to hate.
We can also “check-in”wherever we want. As if updating where we are exactly at all times so lurkers can know where we are at isn’t enough, it also has a map conveniently attached showing our visual location.
If that isn’t the ultimate way of stalking someone, I don’t know what is.
But think about it. Is it really necessary to “check-in” and say that we are at the grocery store? The doctor’s office? The movies? It just seems silly to me, but some how we all love to engage in it, including myself.
But when is enough, enough? It seems that no one’s life is private anymore and anything can be accessible through the Web. Even though this piece of technology and enhancement to mobile devices is in fact, spectacular, I can’t help but to scorn at the thought that my cell phone takes up so much of my time.
If you are not the owner of an iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Palm, and any other savvy smartphones out there, stay away. Stay far away, because believe me when I say, that they will take over your day-to-day life.
