"Are Cell Phones Really That Great"
I am going to admit, I heavily rely on technology and spend a good amount of time online. I am constantly using my phone or laptop to talk to others, watch movies or shows, or to check social media. Phones are amazing because all of my friends are one call away and with the click of a button, I can have the answer to any question. Don’t get me wrong, this aspect of technology is amazing, but the more I think about it, technology does just as good of a job disconnecting me from others.
When I was younger, I didn’t have cell phones in my back pocket. I spent every summer day playing outside with my parents from sunrise to sunset. My friends would come over and we’d all play with dolls, build with legos, or make huge forts in the basement. Now when I hang out with my friends, we just take cute pictures for Instagram, we watch movies, or we make TikTok. Everything we do is based on technology. In addition to just sitting around on phones when hanging out with friends, conversations are becoming more and more superficial. How many times have you responded to someone’s text with, “hahaha that’s so funny” and never even broke a smile? I know I’ve done it multiple times. Conversations through the phone are becoming shorter and shorter, and less effort is being put into them.
I’ve also noticed that technology has kept me from making more meaningful relationships with “friends.” I have followers on Instagram and I communicate with many people on Snapchat, but are all of those people really my friends? Maybe you would think so because we may send funny snaps back and forth all day, but most of the people on my Snapchat I have never hung out with outside of school. Social media can make you feel like you have a large handful of friends, but when I actually put the phone down, I am able to see the true people in my life.
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| A woman checking through her Instagram to see who is interacting with her account. |
I think that your complaint about technology is valid, but I have a different perspective on the matter. I vastly prefer technology to direct social interaction because it provides a buffer between me and other people. Even when I was a kid, I tended to get overwhelmed quickly when I was around other people, which led to many unfortunate incidents. Now that I have a phone, I can interact with people without having to worry about fatiguing myself and doing or saying something embarrassing. Even when I do feel the need to get away, I can just get off of whatever app I'm using and do something else. You may feel more disconnected, but I don't necessarily view that as a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I think technology as a whole has became a way for our generation to hide. Within text messages, you can not read someone's facial expressions and tone which is a large part of human interaction. There are a lot more conversations that should take place in person, but it is easier for our generation to just have it over the phone, which should not happen. I also agree with you about being on our phones when hanging out with our friends. A lot of the times, my friends and I are in the same room sending tiktoks to each other when we should be communicating with one another.
ReplyDeleteI have also been thinking about how different my life would be if I didn't have as much access to technology as I do now. I don't believe it's left me COMPLETELY disconnected from the world, I think it's made it better in some ways. It's a lot easier to communicate with people who you wouldn't have usually had the opportunity to communicate with. For an example, my dad's side of the family lives in England, so I got a phone and social media apps like facebook and messenger in order to contact them. I do understand your point about how isconnected it can make us around us. It is extremely common to be with people and just be on our phones and scrolling through tiktok aimlessly for a while, but that can be really fun considering some of the stuff on tiktok.
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