Curse you wordpress!!

And now apparently wordpress won’t let me reply to comments on my own blog, even while I’m currently signed in. I really hope this fixes itself …

Should I go on?

I’ve been wondering lately about my blog. I’m pretty lazy, so I don’t usually get around to updating it. And then when I do update, I’ve really only got two people who read it, and I usually already told them what I wrote in the update. So I don’t know if I should even bother with this anymore….

A little too connected

We live in a great computerized age. With our computers and phones, we can get online, where there is an unbelievable amount of information for us to sift through. We can talk to people through texts, emails, instant messaging, and social networks, all without ever actually saying a word. We can share information, music, and videos instantaneously with thousands of people simply by putting them on our facebook profile or blogs.

But at the same time, is any of this necessary?

All of this technology has caused us to be so connected that we are now impatient when it comes to real life. We send people an email, and we expect an answer immediately. When someone hasn’t responded within a couple hours, we get upset. And I’ve done this before, too. I am usually pretty patient about people replying to my emails, but after a couple days it starts to be annoying. Who doesn’t check their emails at least once a day? It also bothers me when all I need is a quick yes or no answer, and I still don’t get a reply. Even worse is when I know that you have a blackberry. Your phone is strapped to your belt all day every day. It beeps at you or buzzes whenever you get an email. How can you not reply to me?

He's on a laptop, ergo it's relevant.

Texting is another issue. I personally do not have texting on my phone. (That’s not by choice, my dad bought me the phone when I was a freshman and blocked all texting because he doesn’t see the point. I don’t see the point of buying my own cell phone when he will pay for one, so I don’t have texting.) I can understand when texting would be useful and convenient. For example, if I just want to ask my roommate what time she’s coming home, or to ask a friend what time we’re getting dinner, a text would be nice. I don’t need to know RIGHT NOW (unless of course dinner is right now) so they can get back to me whenever they get a chance, and I don’t need to possibly interrupt them by calling.

I can't believe that this actually exists

Some people, however, live out their entire relationships through texts. They will have whole conversations, which, at that point, it would just be easier and faster to dial them up and talk to them. But nooooooooo, it’s so much better to text because then you can like have a million conversations going on at the same time while you’re at dinner/in class/hanging out with someone else.

And yet somehow, this seems normal. So normal, in fact, that the idea of being without any of our technology is terrible. My roommate has been turning her computer off at least two hours before bed, because it helps her sleep. The visual bombardment that we get from being online (all the light, the ads, etc.) stimulates your brain and makes it harder to fall asleep at night. So she has been closing her laptop and not doing anything online. Which to me, is CRAZY. I don’t see how she does it. I always have to check my mail at least once more right before going to bed. I feel compelled to check if anyone has emailed me. (I must admit, I’ve probably checked my email about 4 times since I’ve started writing this post) And if I have an email, I have to write back. I don’t see why I should be so compelled to check and respond to my emails so quickly. Shouldn’t people understand that I sleep at night? That I’m not always on my computer? Of course not.

Now, my roommate takes it a step further, and she doesn’t even turn on her computer in the morning. HOW CAN SHE DO THAT? I admit, I am absolutely and completely addicted to the internet. But still, shouldn’t you at least check your email before class? What if class is cancelled? How would you know if you don’t check? Then you’d go all the way up to the classroom to find a note on the door, when you could have just stayed at home and curled back up in bed. (This has happened … once …)

This past summer, I was out of the country for a month. And where I was, I didn’t have any computer. I think I used a computer about 4 times that entire month. And somehow, I lived. I wasn’t even that upset that I couldn’t check my email or go on facebook all the time. And actually, I barely got any emails that whole time.

[Note: I was just writing this when I realized two things: Firstly, that the video of Hatter set to Hot Mess, which my roommates and I love, has been taken down off of youtube. Sadness. The creator of the video, TheOnlyDoylie, appears to have had their account either removed or disabled. If anyone has a copy of the video, I WANT IT. The second thing that I noticed was that there was a cat outside. The cat has an owner somewhere nearby, and he tends to wander over here. He is the sweetest thing, so I naturally ran out and petted him for about 15 minutes. He was happy to see me. Especially since I brought out the little fatty bits of my porkchop that I had for dinner.]

But anyway, back to me being addicted to my computer. It’s kinda sad, really, how much I’m on it. Even if I’m not doing anything, I’ll just browse the web, looking at pictures of cats with silly captions on them. And really, if that’s not a useless waste of time, then I don’t know what is.

Let’s not even get started with Twitter. Does anyone really need to know what you’re doing every moment of every day?

I’m not quite sure what I’m getting at here. Obviously, we as a society are way too addicted to our technology for our own good. We need to go outside or read a book, or have an actual conversation with someone, face to face. But even though I can see that our addiction is overwhelming and unnecessary, I’m still here, sitting at my computer, and I will be here all night, and tomorrow, whenever I’m home.