We’ve heard this so much before that we know it like our own name. But such a line is a fact just like our own birthday. We millennials are a generation of technology. Take a moment a count to yourself — how many electronic items do you have on you right now? Laptop? Cell phone? iPad or tablet? When was the last time you went a day without having your phone shoved in your pocket or your laptop hidden away in your bookbag? If for some reason there was a worldwide shut down, we would not know what to do. Not only are we a generation of technology, but in more ways than one technology has become our invisible crutch; like an organ, we feel like we need it to function. Is this necessarily a bad thing? Is there an essential problem with this invisible crutch? Yes, yes it is. Here are reasons why technology may be the end of us.
1. Lack of Personal Interaction. How many passive aggressive texts have you received from a friend but when you see that person you give a tight smile? How many of you will — in the blink of an eye — write a novel of your political view on Facebook but gain a sudden interest in your shoe laces when your professors ask you about politics in class? Look, I get it; hiding behind a bright screen as if it is an invisibility cloak is easier. It’s easier than telling someone to their face that you’re upset with them. It’s easier than standing up in front of your whole class and expressing why you’re a Democrat in a room full of Republicans. It’s easier because you don’t have to face the judgment that is to follow. We are forgetting how to communicate and becoming cowards when it comes to personal interactions. We were gifted with vocal chords but we use our fingers to do the talking for us.
2. Self Worth. We base our worth off our social media accounts. When you post a selfie and you achieve your peak of likes you walk a bit taller that day. When your Snapchat gets 100 views in less than an hour, you smile more. When your Tweet is favored and retweeted more times than you can count on your fingers, you feel like a small celebrity. Our need to achieve ‘likes’ and ‘retweets’ have become a daily goal in our lives.
3. Losing Touch with Reality. It’s very rare for a single conversation to be occurring. While you’re usually sharing your daily life with a friend in person, your phone is also buzzing away with another message awaiting your response. Be honest with yourself, how many times have you interrupted a personal conversation to respond to a quick text? We walk across campus with our blinding screens only a few inches from our face or music blaring in our ears. Anytime we go on a trip via plane, car, or even train we see the outside world though our screens. We are more worried about capturing that perfect picture of clouds or that cute boomerang of you walking down the city of New York. We fail to stop and take the moments of the world moving around us. We fail to separate the digital world from the reality.
Technology is ingrained in our culture like a tattoo. It controls us as if we are its own personal puppet. There is nothing wrong with technology; in fact, I think we should embrace it, but we must learn to control it and not the other way around. Computers, laptops, iPads, and phones may be the greatest weapons that we millennials have, but now we must learn how to use it.