We are all wired. Every single one of us has a cell phone glued to our fingertips or music pumping into our ears through headphones. It's scary how much we rely on these electronic devices but never realize how often they are used.
Think of your daily routine. You wake up to your phone alarm in the morning, boot up your laptop to check your email, maybe play a little music from your iTunes, text a friend, and then logon to Facebook, Twitter, or whatever new social network site is big now to update your knowledge on people you don't even talk to.
Even younger kids are wrapped up in the world of buzzing technology. My niece and nephew both have had cell phones, laptops, iPods, and game systems before they were 10 years old.
When one of these gizmos breaks down, so does our electro-fueled sanity. I've recently been struck by this phenomenon when my laptop crashed; taking with it glorious files of interviews, essays, pictures, and music down with it.
As my screen kept popping up errors and starting and restarting, my brain crumbled and my anxiety spiked. I can't respond to important emails now or edit my photographs from a wedding I took pictures for. I relied on my laptop for so many things and I only realized this when it was taken away from me.
But what would life be like without all of these things? As I sit at my desk in The Spectrum office writing this column, I think of how many hours I am here working in this very spot.
The amount of hours my eyes stare at this computer screen, the length of time I sit in the same position. It's unhealthy. The top five health problems caused by the use of computers are back problems, computer vision syndrome, E-thrombosis, generalized anxiety disorder, and loss of hearing, according to safecomputingtips.com.
Without technology, life would be life again. Instead of reading people's statuses or browsing through all of their tagged photos, we would have to go back to stalking the old fashioned way. Talking would replace texting, and we'd see human faces again instead of tops of heads from people looking down and punching buttons on their phone.
It drives me crazy when I think about how much time I waste on the electronics I touch every day. My phone is constantly buzzing with new messages, my email inbox fills up, groups on Facebook keep me in the loop on things going on for that day.
I feel like these devices are so faceless and non-human. But what's ironic about these methods of electronic communication is that without them, I would be disconnected from people. I don't like Facebook. But like everyone else who has one, my excuse for keeping it is "to stay in touch with people."
And although my laptop is gone (R.I.P) and I'm complaining about how much I can't stand all of this technology, I'm still going to leave the office today with my headphones on and an iPod playing my favorite tunes.
Email: akari.iburi@ubspectrum.com
