Too Much of a Good Thing

Today we have many apps at our disposal where we can see how our friends are doing. Snapchat and Instagram show us where they have been and their thoughts are all over Twitter and Facebook. This constant ability to "monitor" my friends makes me feel as if I have lost touch with those that no longer are physically close to me. Why text my friends that attend UW Madison and ask how they are doing when I basically already know the answer to that question. For me these apps have seemed to reduce the need and desire to make small talk and I only find myself communicating with them when we plan to visit one other or if there is a deep personal issue. This has not lead to problems when we actually see each other as we are still great friends, but it's disheartening when I realize I haven't actually talked to them in 3 months. In short social media in some cases has made me less social, oh the irony.

This anti socialness has also spread into other parts of my life. Sometimes when I pass a friend on the street I pray that a quick hello will suffice in lieu of conversation as I will just have a strong desire to continue listening to whatever is going through my earbuds (which I might add are always in or at least dangling out over my collar) at that time. I would not be incorrect in saying that my ear buds serve as an extension of me (and they an extension of my phone), and this extension succeeds in cutting me off from everyone else around me.

Also today as I am writing this I am sitting in Walter Library because to me I needed to drudge through the frozen windy hell that is currently campus to do my homework. My roommate commented as I left "Why don't you just do your homework at the counter and hang out here with us". The problem is that as he says this he is blasting virtual opponents in a video game as another roommate sits on the couch watching some stand up comedy and laughing to himself every 30 seconds. With all this going on I know I have to leave otherwise it will take me 4X longer just to write this post (I should note that I have no desk in my room and therefore no other space to work). Maybe this is my fault because I'm easily distracted and I would love to stay and do homework while interacting with my roommates, but I just feel like the distraction of technology there is too much leading to further anti social behavior.

As I wrote this I thought a lot about these three problems and have seen steps I can take to fix them, it's just unfortunate I let technology shape my life like this in the first place.