Tech That!

“The year we stopped talking to one another.”

That’s what USA Today dubs 2010, in light of the unprecedented rise of technology.

The modern world is one of gadgets. We are a people seeped in the technology that we have created for ourselves. With the advent of easy access to the internet, and the power to send and receive messages via numerous social platforms, we seem to have shut out what once was the very core of our existence – the human touch.

Think about it. How many of us actually get to know new people on a personal front anymore? How many of us utilize the magic of real human communication? And more so, how many of us actually tap the potential of a human touch? How many times do we really mean the emoticons we send as messages on our smartphones? The answers will leave much to ponder about.

I have actually seen two people sitting six feet away from each other and sending each other messages. It is baffling to note how we have distanced ourselves from the real world, and found our place in an illusory connectivity called social media.

Today, everybody is plugged in, all the time. This constant need to be preoccupied with electronic toys is a significant piece of the puzzle in our decadence of community ties. I realize the line has become clichéd, but we seem to keep getting dumber as our phones get smarter. And today, we have reached a point of isolation where it is almost inconceivable for us to value the touch of another man or woman.

I am not anti-technology. But at what cost can we let it substitute personal interaction? Today we have people reading this article while watching a show on television and texting their girlfriend/boyfriend to let them know its over before they switch over to facebook to change their relationship status from “In a relationship” to “Single”, and maybe click a selfie and put it up on Instagram while they are at it. (I’m kidding. Nobody actually reads my blog, I get that.)

All the technology that surrounds us is a great tool if and only if used in moderation. So for the time being, shut down your laptop, switch off your phone and give your friend a hug or a kiss. Because the true human interactions are all that will matter. Despite our world being a global village, we seem to have distanced ourselves, only to be connected by usernames and passwords.

We’re so close, and yet so far apart.