After watching the TEDTalks video by Sherry Turtle on technology and conversations/relationships I've had a fire lit about one of my biggest pet peeves.
- The image of the couple at dinner with their phones out as well as the image of her daughter and her friends really stirred up emotions for me. We've lost touch with face-to-face interactions and forgotten how to have real life-real time conversations. Generations after myself will never know the true feeling of hanging out with friends and not having them continuously checking their phones or Facebook pages, and this upsets me so very much. These images stir emotions inside of me that make me so frustrated. I grew up just as cell phones for students became a popular thing, and I was one of the few in my grade who didn’t have a cell phone in high school. [I didn't get my first cell phone until I was in grade 12... oooooh how did I survive?!]. I can remember what it was like to hangout with friends and not have digital distractions. Even when a friend had a phone, it wasn’t a huge distraction like it is now. It is easier to pull out your phone and have a short conversation with someone else rather than to have a real life conversation with someone who is in the same room as you. I find we are always looking for that feeling of belonging to something more, most of the time. We are no longer content with the company of those in our immediate area. I can say I am guilty of pulling my phone out when I’m with other people and continuing a conversation with someone over text message. Yet, I also get irritated quickly when any one around me does the same. I am quick to judge in this case, but I too, am guilty as charged. There are times when I wish having a phone was not the norm; these days it’s almost as though you need a phone to survive or feel even socially accepted. It’s like you have a visible disability when you mention to someone that you don’t have a cellphone or you don’t have a Facebook page. I find, for the most part, my friends have healthy attachments to their devices (I feel like someone who has Facebook open at all times is now the norm). I still do wish though, that humans could think for themselves and know when to put their devices down and not have an impulse to constantly look at them.