A Life of Connectivity

Here in the 21st century, it's difficult to imagine a life without computers, to say the least.  I was born in 1995, and have grown up around the Microsoft and MacBooks my entire life.  The progress in communications technology has been absolutely ridiculous.  Before the internet, long-distance communication meant either talking to someone on the telephone or mailing them a letter, which would take days or even weeks to successfully send to your recipient.  With the advent of the internet however, you could now write up and send letters to your best friend overseas in the matter of minutes, via email with the click of a few buttons.  When in the 2000s communications took a matter of minutes with emails, these days communications take a matter of seconds with the use of Apple iPhones and iMessage, using just a few taps of the thumb on the smartphone.  Notifications that pop up on your phone means that you will immediately know when your friends are contacting you, and the data and wi-fi capabilities that our smartphones have gives us the ability to reply back promptly.

There are numerous benefits to this constant connectivity. Before the advent of smartphones and iMessage you had to make plans with your friends hours before, usually by Facebook messages or calling.  Nowadays, you can plan things almost instantaneously and change plans with your pals as you go, thanks to smartphones and smartphone notifications. 


Other than human-to-human interaction, this constant connectivity our smartphones provide allows us to have constant interaction with outside events.  All smartphones have the ability to constantly update us with news, weather reports, and the latest trends on social media with the single buzz of a notification. Being updated with a constant stream of updated information would prove useful in most day-to-day activities.  Trying to plan your next vacation? You could simply pull up travel apps on your phone to find the best hotel and restaurant deals, book airplanes, and voila!  Got lost in downtown State College? Simply click on the navigation map, and you'll be able to orient yourself and look up directions to your destination.  Smartphones are not only convenient, they could also be literally life-saving.  Before smartphones, we only received disaster warnings or campus alerts when we switched on the TV, often being unaware of possible dangers until it could be potentially too late.  Nowadays we promptly receive them with phone notifications, and would have much more time to react to possible dangers.


Although being in a constant state of connectivity is very useful at times, it can also be a curse.  Being constantly connected to world events and social media via smartphones is slowly killing off our human-to-human interactions.  When we are waiting in line, sitting on a bus, or walking off to classes, it seems as if everyone is glued to their smartphones, scrolling through their Instagram feeds or playing Trivia Crack instead of making small talk to their fellow Penn Staters.  I've seen this phenomenon at parties too, where it seems as if people are completely glued to their phones, and would rather take a picture of their party experience than actually live through it. Many people spend their times making themselves look good on their social media sites, and don't spend enough time with actual interactions, such as when girls spend hours upon hours editing their own Instagrams and when guys chill together in a room, everyone on their phones instead of actually "hanging out" with each other. I believe we need that although smartphone and computer technology is very useful for many day-to-day activities such as navigation and research, it is detrimental to our social interactions.