Technological Disconnection

I am not the type of person who uses technology very often as it is, but during my conscious effort to cut back for a day, I noticed many things. It seems like a good portion of people walking around campus by themselves are looking down at their phones as they walk. I believe this is because people are afraid of eye contact or verbal engagement with anyone they may pass. Sometimes I am guilty of doing this as well, possibly due to my irrational dislike of small-talk. If I run into someone I know, but not well enough to want to contact them and arrange to spend time with them, it is always the same 5 questions… “How have you been?” “How long time you graduate?” “Are you still working at [place]?” “How is [name of high school friend] doing?” “What else is new?” A good portion of the people who are on their phones as they walk are likely not even doing anything besides looking through social media to kill time.

Another thing I noticed was the lack of people on actual phone calls in comparison with the number of ones texting. In a full day, I only noticed 3 people on phone calls and I lost count of how many people I saw texting.

During these last 24 hours I called 4 of my best friends that have moved out of county or state, and spoke to 3 of them. I know this isn’t the same as an actual visit, but it was more than I’ve been doing lately to maintain relationships so it was beneficial:)