Graphic by Patty Huntley
By Anna-Maria Thalassinos ’14
A typical morning routine: hit the snooze button on your alarm at least twice, eat breakfast, get dressed for school, and check your phone for the latest news, from current events to who is dating whom.
Now in 2012, we can easily agree that we live in a technology obsessed world. It used to be that snail mail was one of the only forms of communication between people. Now, in a mere few seconds you can stalk a person’s entire life on Facebook.
Over the years, the improvements in technology have been seen as positive changes. Studies have shown that 29 percent of Americans say that their wireless device is the first and last thing they look at everyday, according to a Time article.
We as a society have become overly attached to technology. I know personally, it can be difficult, and even I feel like something is missing if I’m without my cell phone for more than several hours.
Teenagers are consumed with not just their cell phones, but with the various websites and social media networks, such as YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Every month or so a new viral hit arises from the works of YouTube. An infamous example occurred in September 2011 with Rebecca Black’s song “Friday,” and more recently, it has been PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” which has reached more than half a billion views.
UAHS is not exempt of this technology craze. It’s common to run into students in the hallway as they type away on their smartphones, obviously not watching where they are going.
Walking through the halls, all I ever hear is, “Ooh, I have to Instagram this!” or “Did you just check what she posted on Facebook?” and even “I’m so tweeting this!”
Not only has technology affected our daily interactions with friends, but also flirting and dating has transformed from face-to-face conversations to simply a contact in your phone. With flirting being a nerve-wracking and difficult skill to master, texting is a much easier solution, that is unfortunately more often used, since there is more time to come up with what to say.
Mastering this skill via text is fine, but body language—which is impossible to see through phone—plays a vital role in how you interact with others. When you want to flirt, it’s best to be done in person. This is not only because you will sound more sincere, but also you will see if there’s actual chemistry between you two, since it’s easy to not truly act yourself when you have all of your technology to mask you.
Our advancements in technology have privileged society with effortless means to keep up to date with one another; however, examples of the drastic changes in face-to-face communication prove that we have lost sight of how reliant we are on the technology we have today.