I have always been a fan of modern technology and while I may not have ever been the first to get a beeper, a computer or a blackberry, once I acquired them I became a rather proficient user. No, I cannot write code or take apart a cell phone, but I love the world wide web, txt msging and other such nonsense. If something exists on the internet, I am the girl to find it - I will Google and Wiki anything and everything that comes to mind. My original AOL profile from about 10 years ago listed "America Offline" as hobbies and with each passing year, I find myself glued to a computer screen more and more - school required it, work requires it and now even personal life requires it.
I am not sure how we survived without email and cell phones even ten short years ago. Today, you cannot survive without at least 4 email accounts (aol, gmail, hotmail, yahoo), 2 social network accounts (facebook, myspace, odnoklassniki), 3 chat accounts (aim, gTalk, ICQ) and don't forget things like evite.com, nyt.com, yourfavoriteblogs.com, and the list gets longer and longer. While sites like digsby try to rectify the jumble by consolidating all of our email, chat and social networks, we still have 3 browser windows open with 7 tabs each.
With the proliferation of PDAs and other mobile devices text messaging is becoming pretty much the ONLY form of communication (amongst young people). Nobody calls anymore it's TXT, TXT, TXT to the familiar "bzzzzzzzzzz" or your vibrate setting. I feel that I'm the only person that uses punctuation in text messages, but it's bad because I will not send a work email or type an essay without running spell check and erroneous text messages are running rampant. And as I learned from Wikipidea this morning (thanks to a link that someone shared via e-mail and I'm now posting on my blog) it is an addictive vice.
Text messaging was reported to have addictive tendencies by the Global Messaging Survey by Nokia in 2001 and was confirmed to be addictive by the study at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 2004. Since then the study at the Queensland University of Australia has found that text messaging is the most addictive digital service on mobile or internet, and is equivalent in addictiveness to cigarette smoking. The text reception habit introduces a need to remain connected, called "Reachability". . .
. . .A Malaysian court had ruled that it is legal to divorce through the use of text messaging as long as you are clear and unequivocal.
Sometimes, I love being "disconnected" when on vacation or leaving a phone at home on a random Tuesday. Yet, I feel naked and strange. I took my laptop with me on my last vacation and uploaded pictures daily. With my "berry" not working normally for a few days, I felt like I was going nuts (and still am), but isn't it nice to pick up the phone and actually say, "Hello?" Isn't it wonderful to laugh in the presence of old friends as you kick back and enjoy a cocktail? Isn't it great to feel the warmth of a lover's touch on your skin? And as much instant communication as we may have they will never replace the comfort of a human being. Click.
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Alla, that's a nice article, interesting thoughts. Did you write this yourself?
ReplyDeleteYes, I did. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks.
But with all the connectivity, we've lost probably the most cherished human quality. A human touch, we chat, text, email, but ultimately we're talking to a computer screen. We can be anyone on the net, boy, girl, transvestite... superman or a cat... nobody would know...
ReplyDeleteeven now, you have no idea (well you do probably have an idea) as to who is writing this.
click
Click,
ReplyDeleteI have not the slightest idea who you are or may be. It can be me - the pigment of my imagination, an illusion that I've created. Yes, you can be anyone you want on the net - male, female, 6'2",
blond-haired, green-eyed. You can have a degree from Harvard, Pratt or be a high-school drop-out. You can be married, single or undecided. You can be a polygamist, a jew, an arab, a carpenter, a blogger, unemployed. The reality, however is that you're only lying to yourself. And even if you created such a strong alter persona that you start believing that this is your character - you're a disillusioned
freak (for lack of a harsher word).
As I said in my post, no telephone, computer or PDA will ever replace the warmth of a human touch even if it can send the kindness of a smile or the song (or in some cases ston) of one's voice. Cyber sex will never equate to physical contact (although it's a lot safer), because, again, you're only having relations with yourself. As I'm
typing this on my blackberry on my way to work, I'm thinking that a
year ago, I would've waited to get to a physical computer to write a
response and probably be reading a book instead of a blog. However,
we must evolve with the times and although I spend a lot of time
behind a computer screen, I never misrepresent myself - I'm Alla -
take it, leave it, love it or hate it - virtually, really I'm the same
girl in a crazy world with many thoughts dying to get out. Anymosity may be great (I've discussed that on my blog many times), but some things are better left in the chambers of my heart and in the readers' imaginations.
P.S. I actually had to wait to get to work to post this as my blackberry won't post comments on a blog, so much for modern technology. :-(
Are you saying that you've never posted anything anonymously anywhere, or created bunch of different profiles for different "cyber identities", I'm finding it hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that now you spend about 70% of your life in front of a computer screen, reading blogs, researching, facebook, odnoklassniki... don't you think that you've lost touch with reality?
You read ramblings of random people about love, life and everything, at some point you start to value their opinion and they become an authoritative figures for you. But do you know who they really are?
Reality TV is equal to blogs, and we ALL love to pry into other peoples lives, always forgetting about own.
I think all the time spent online really helps your mental and emotional retardation. If you don't have internet, text messaging, you wouldn't know what to do with yourself.
And its sad.
Click
Anon,
ReplyDeleteOf course, I've posted things anonymously, we all have and usually because we all have someting to hide. Fortunately, I don't yet spend 70% of my life in front of a computer - basic math
24 hours in a day -
Less 8 (okay, that's optimistic) 7 hours of sleep
Less 2 hours for Shower/Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Less 2 hours miscellaneous
that brings us down to 13 (out of 24) of which you spend 8 working, and you're not always looking at the screen, you do talk and look at papers and there's breaks, karoche, you're already down to 54.16666% and what about when you go out and spend time with friends and have intimate relations, so 70% is a number that doesn't hold.
I don't watch TV, movies, maybe and not too often, but no TV,so that doesn't apply to me. As for loosing touch with reality - no, beacuse we're living in the information age so you have instant knowledge. Before you would get it from books and discussions, today you get it on the net. Technology changed but people will always be influenced by the environment that they are in.
I will choose having a cup of coffee with a friend, a drink with a co-worker and a walk (even by myself) over sitting in front of the computer anyday. Mental retardation, or not, we are simply a product of the world we live in.
actually 70% does hold because even during your misc time you are still texting, checking email etc etc and even when / if you're out with friends, you're still connected and still texting .... it doesn't stop at all... well maybe only when you're sleeping
ReplyDeleteB.S. I didn't even see this comment till this morning! :-)
ReplyDeleteSo it does stops. "Connectivity" on a personal level is so much more valuable than through a screen and this weekend I spent time shopping with mom, having drinks with friends and taking pictures at my friend's bridal shower - my phone was somewhere in my bag the entire time.