Face to face conversations shouldn’t be a thing of the past
February 5, 2015
The amount of friends you have online means nothing.
The amount of times I hear the statement, “It isn’t the 1950s anymore” a day is somewhat repulsive. I am glad to live in a world that is no longer separated by the color of your skin, religious beliefs and inhuman standards and stereotypes for minorities. But at the same time, I wish I grew up in a time like the 1950s, a culture completely unlike our own.
A society before technology.
A society that I wish my future children could grow up in, where your character is determined by your actions and how you treat people, not the society where you are judged by popularity due to how many “friends” you have on a screen.
Too many people are judged daily online and this is why cyber bullying is at an all time high. Mike Bokovitz, Digital Media Production teacher at Mayfield High School, would agree. When asked if technology has changed the world negatively he said, “Negatively, people begin to get safe behind the screen.”
For instance, the cyber bullying story of Amanda Todd––she ended up dead. Even then she was continually judged online. The judging never ends. Dead or alive.
Oh, I just love my society. Note my sarcasm.
Quite frankly, I want my daughter one day to want more than a #wcw, better known as Women Crush Wednesday, from her boyfriend. I want my daughter to appreciate things people do, to understand that just because she only has so many “friends” doesn’t mean she is unpopular.
I want my children to have the same people skills that my grandparents have.
The internet it full of people that live differently than ever before. Everyone can change if you are hiding behind a screen.
For the worst.
A new study was released on Dec. 1, 2014 that was simply titled “Technoference.”
It was conducted by Brandon McDaniel of the Pennsylvania State University and Sarah Coyne of Brigman Young University in Utah, which surveyed 143 women.
The psychologists stated in the study that “Over time, individuals feel less satisfied with their relationship as well as with the way their life is currently going. They may not even realize this is happening.”
I know that I have been in relationships, friendly or romantic, that overtime there becomes less and less interest in one another. I normally associated this with getting older but then realized the sad truth.
I was so busy staring at a screen to play the newest game, Flappy Bird to Hop Hop Ninja to Trivia Crack, that I forgot to look at who was sitting right in front of me.
The study continues to say, “By allowing technology to interfere with or interrupt conversations, activities, and time with romantic partners – even when unintentional or for brief moments – individuals may be sending implicit messages about what they value most, leading to conflict and negative outcomes in personal life and relationships.”
I agree with McDaniel and Coyne on this fully. Technology has been a part of my life almost every day since I was middle school, and the amount of times I have stopped talking to someone because they seem to make more time for their phone than me, I can’t count on two hands.
We don’t need scientist to tell us that technology has changed the world around us.
I can remember sitting and just watching everyone around me on some sort of device. Not talking, rather “connect” with people over Facebook then actually communicate face to face.
What happened to sitting down and talking with someone?
Sophomore Anthony Gamerman is enrolled in the Computer Programming class and has interviewed for the ITP and CADD Excel TECC programs. He said, “[Technology] helped further our society and lives greatly but lately its done more than further our society it’s over taken it.”
I just want a world that I could name one person who hasn’t used their smart phone in front of me.
The society we live in consists of little screens and too much “connection.” I would never have imagined a world with so many resources to connect, but so many people feeling lonely.
Everyone is living in this fake world, the world of the internet. We need to live in the real world, with real faces, not animated and pixilated.
The world that I want my kids to grow up in.