Digital Deathbed

Ever noticed how people with Blackberries or iPhones always have their device out and are plucking buttons constantly?



Ever see how more people text and IM and facebook rather than give someone a call?



Ever wonder about someone's tone on a text or IM and analyze the sentence for hours on end?



Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to the 21st century.



Now, I'm not against technology. If it were not for the graces of technological progress, information would be much harder to get and news would spread much slower. The Tehran Protests on twitter would have been obsolete, and who knows if you would have ever reconnected with your best friend from high school if there wasn't a Facebook.



Back in the day, people didn't move much. The 50 to 60 people you went to school with, grew up around, etc was your world. It was rare to go far for college, if you went to college at all, and chances were you married someone your family was familiar with.



In today's world, we have a much more mobile population, and because of social networks and cell phones and whatnot, we can (somewhat) keep this idea of a close-knit community while extending our physical space and expanding our social circle.



Or can we?



I can't help but wonder if technology is a cheap substitute. I understand its capacity to bring people together, but nothing is stronger than person-to-person interaction. Even a phone call is somewhat personal; you can hear the intonations of another's voice and gage their true feelings. By relying on computers and texts, we are cutting out about 60% or more of communication (tone and/or body language) and living off of assumptions and guess work. It is easier to fool a girl into thinking you have true feelings for her and lure her into bed. It's easy to seem like you're friendly with someone when it reality you can barely tolerate them.



Do people depend on technology because it gives them the facade of having deep human connections with multiple individuals? Does someone like a person because he or she is that person, or simply because he or she is another entry on their contact list?



I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be with a person who gives me a call or shows up at my door than sends me a cheap four word text.