Too Much Technology

I realized something a while back: I am incapable of doing school without a computer, or internet. School didn't used to need those things, it was just about showing up and learning. It was about books and paper and pencils. Until I started middle school I didn't need a computer for anything. I was just fine the way I was. But now, nearly 9 years later, into my second year of university, I literally cannot do school without going online on a daily basis; Email, Moodle postings, web notifications, Facebook groups, support programs for classes, looking up online research journals, it's crazy!! And most of it we do every day without even thinking about it.

And yes, I realize the irony in my saying all of this into an internet blog, but just go with me here. I'm a 21st century kid with a 19th century spirit. It gets confusing sometimes.

Being that dependant on internet and social media can lead to issues. Like today, my Hotmail account would let me put anything in the text box to write a message - don't ask me why, it just said for security reasons the composer couldn't allow content to be displayed. Aren't I the composer...? - and I was stuck. I need that email account for school information, contact with professors and other students, not to mention anything else that comes up where an email contact is required. And if it doesn't work, my life is quite debilitated.

What happens when something happens, say a major storm, and power is down for days. No internet, no cell phones, no contact with the outside world. We can't function. And yet, we did function just like that until about 20 years ago. So what changed? Technology, that's what. And don't get me wrong, I do enjoy basic - key word - technology. I have a blog, and a Facebook account, I use email. I enjoy the ease with which to do research online. I have a basic android smartphone, which I use mostly for texting about 10 people and an alarm clock. But that's it.

Everything else is beyond me, and to be totally honest, rather frightening. The idea that you can make a video on an iPhone, post in to YouTube, and within a minute it can be seen 1000 times around the world, is a frightening concept. What happened to privacy? Does that even exist any more? Anything you say, anything you do, you can't rely on the fact that people will forget about it, not in a world of smartphones, Twitter, YouTube and who knows what else! Everything on the internet is there for life, not just life, eternity! And people don't even think about it. Really, some of the things I see people post to Facebook is over the top inappropriate; swearing, sexual, homophobic/racist. Yeah, they may only be stupid teenagers now, but they won't be forever, and all that stuff is still going to be up there for someone to find.

It's getting too complex, the idea that you can link you email, Twitter, pinterest, or who knows what else to your Facebook account seems a little excessive to me. And the idea that you can do that from the palm of your hand anywhere... yeah, not big on that either.

What ever happened to waiting a week to hear back? Now everything is just getting faster, faster, faster, and we have no patience anymore; our society has no concept of waiting. This is bad. Very, very bad.

If anyone out there actually does read this, and if you disagree with anything I have said here, I'm ok with that. That's your opinion, and it's totally fine. This is my opinion. And my opinion is that we have to stop while we're ahead, slow down and catch up, think about what we're doing, lay back and breath, just stop and think for just a minute before plunging in headlong without looking. This is 2013. 10 years ago, they didn't even have iPod's yet, camera phones were unheard of, texting was still brand new. If all this has happened in a decade, what else is coming, and are we, as a society really ready to handle it?