Reflecting on our (my) relationship with technology
This term, my English LangLit class is discussing non-literary text types, with last week’s text type being opinion columns. If you’re not familiar with opinion columns, they’re essentially articles reflecting the author’s opinion on a particular subject. But I’m not here to school you on opinion columns because as much as I love English LangLit, I don’t want to write a 500-word article commenting on the structural and stylistic features of opinion columns and their individual purposes. I do not have it in me to do that.
“Well then why did you start the article with that?” Well, one of the tasks my teacher assigned us was to read, annotate on, and write an outline based on an opinion column published in 2005 that essentially went on and on about how iPods transformed daylife in New York City from, and I quote, “the urban equivalent of methamphetamine” (yes, that is the actual phrase used by the author in the text) to very quiet.
The author goes on to describe iPod users as “deaf to social cues, shutting out anyone not in their bubble” and that really got me to think, does technology really cause us to behave differently? Should our relationship with technology be reflected on? Should my relationship with technology be reflected on?
I’ll start with the truth and the truth only: my entire life fits into a 5.78x2.82 inches rectangular prism. Plus a laptop and a pair of AirPods. If it helps make me sound any more truthful, I’m literally listening to “Afterglow” by Taylor Swift as I’m writing these exact words (great song, by the way). In fact, I’m pretty sure the only times I take my AirPods out of my ears are when I’m supposed to listen to my teachers in class, when I’m having a test, when I’m in the bathroom, and when I’m about to go to sleep.
I’m not saying it’s a good thing, because it isn’t. But I also know that I’m not the only one attached to technology. Everyone around me is. My friends, my brother, my cousins, my parents (although they won’t admit it), every single person I know has some form of attachment to technology — phones, headphones, computers, everything.
In my case, it’s not like I haven’t tried to reduce my consumption of technology. It’s just that no matter how hard I try to, I always find myself running back to technology.
Now that I think about it, it’s actually kind of pathetic. The fact that I probably can’t go a single day (or even just a few hours) without seeing my phone’s familiar brightness or without feeling my AirPods in my ears (both of which may potentially cause health risks in the long run). But at least I’m willing to admit it.
What can I say? There’s simply something so alluring about the virtual world that ever so successfully retracts us from the present moment.
