Connected, but Alone

The title of her lecture, "Connected, but Alone" and her new book, "Alone Together" say a lot about technology.  When I first look at them, I see the word alone which tells me that we are alone, by ourselves as human beings; we are our own person.  When I look further into it, I see the words connected and alone.  This tells me that we are connected by the technology and in a way we are together.  We all can see the same things on the internet and we can all learn information at the same time whenever and wherever we want.  In other words, technology brings us together as a whole world, but it can still hold us apart, away from each other.  Technology and media are never ending.

Quote #1:  "We are letting technology take us places that we don't want to go."

Every second we unlock our devices we have individual apps or webpages that we choose to navigate through.  We open them and choose to look at the same screen multiple times a day.  From those pages we navigate onto other pages and then onto other pages and before we know it, our phone battery is at 50% and we have been sitting on the toilet with our phone in our hand for almost an hour.  This is a place you do not want to be!  Don't be the person that sits on the toilet for almost an hour on their phone.  We continue throughout the day and find ourselves opening up certain apps just to open them because it is such a habit.  I bet if you really paid attention, you could find yourself opening up certain social media websites or applications just to see who posted what about who, even though none of it has to deal with you.  We are so caught up in everyone else's business that we tend to forget about our own.  Don't find yourself in this place.  Another example is websites.  If you don't have virus protection on your phone or laptop or other mobile device, you better make sure you know the website you are searching is a safe one.  Been there, done that.  You think viruses can only be caused by being on "bad" or "inappropriate" websites when really any website is able to contain viruses or other malfunctions that can ruin the software on your device.  Don't find yourself sitting in these places.


Quote #2:  "The little devices in our pockets don't just change what we do, but also who we are."

This is just sad, but it's true.  The little devices in our back pockets are changing who we are as humans.  We are forgetting who we are truly meant to be all because of the internet and technology.  We are changing ourselves physically because we like the way someone else looks, rather than the way we look.  We are changing emotionally because we are somehow stuck in everyone else's problems that we never really wanted to be involved in.  We are changing mentally because the tiny screens we stare at for multiple hours of the day are killing brain cells and straining our eyes.  Be yourself.  Don't allow technology to change who you are as a human being.  Everyone has flaws, but everyone has talents and strengths within them that help create who they really are.  Don't turn into someone else; once you change, you won't be able to change back to who you used to be because you will forget who that person was you once were.


Quote #3:  "We are denying each other of full attention."

Some people are so focused and caught up into their technology that they don't even know how to hold a conversation with a person.  This is terrible.  Some people have trouble making eye contact with others.  It is only going to continue to get worse as technology grows because the more we are in contact with technology the less we are in contact face to face with actual people.  Because of this, we lose people skills.  When you lose people skills, you can't get a job because the interviewee is unable to look you straight in the eyes.  You can probably walk up to a person and shake his or her hand, but do people really know how to carry on a full out conversation longer than five minutes?  I am an 18 year old freshman in college and I have some teachers that still have trouble making eye contact.  I'm not sure the reasons why though because back when they were kids, they were required to make eye contact.  They didn't have the technology that we have today.  It is a never ending cycle with technology and the media.  I feel it will continue to get worse as the years go on.  Often times, I will see a person in the middle of a conversation with another person who is checking Instagram or Facebook while that person is talking to them.  The likes and comments can wait people.  Pay attention to the matter at hand and what the real human being standing in front of you has to say.  For all you know, the "thing" on the social media sites you are roaming through is a fake.