A Generation Overshadowed by Technology | Part 2

A little less than a year ago I wrote this post in the wake of being sick and tired of technology and the effects it has on our society. Lately, I have been thinking quite a lot about this post and how it holds even more true in the sphere of college.

In my first week of college, I was quite surprised by the amount of people who walked around with their phone in their face and their earbuds in- making any chance at conversing while walking impossible. Slowly, I began to fall into the same type of deal. I mean who wants to talk to anyone at 8am in the morning? Not me for sure. Lately, however, I realize how detrimental it has been to my relationships with my classmates, friends, and family.

Since I am a commuter I get to come home to my family every day, and often I tend to bring those bad habits from school, back home. Unless I am keeping track of the minute-to-minute updates on my twitter, instagram, facebook and snapchat, I feel disconnected and out of the loop. When in reality, I am disconnecting from my family and not giving them the love and time that they desire and need from me.

This school year I have become addicted to twitter. Having 150 characters to create a witty statement that's goal is to make people laugh or agree with me is such a fulfilling thing. However, when my whole day can be marked out by what I post on twitter, that's a problem. One of the best parts about my hiatus from technology last year was not finding out about what my friends were doing via facebook, but finding it out from them by making the effort to talk with them. I was able to connect on a much deeper level  because I had to seek them out to ask how they were doing, not just know they were doing well because they said so.

Another issue with relying on technology, is having your thinking influenced by that technology. So often I will start daydreaming and thinking about the meaning of life and other grand and novel thoughts and ideas and then *beep* twitter notification and there goes that train of thought. I can try to recover it, but it will not be the same unadulterated thought that it was. This has made me unsure of my thoughts and feelings as well since I have not made the time to sift through what I think every day. When too many thoughts accumulate in my mind without a way to escape, things just blow up, get taken out of proportion and overthought.

Most important with technology however, is that with the constant usage of technology by me and many others, it is impossible to pray without ceasing as Paul commands in Thessalonians. When I take a break from doing homework what do I do? Go on twitter, like an instagram picture or comment on someone's facebook status. Does it ever cross my mind to pray for 5 minutes and give that time to God? Nope. I don't let it cross my mind because of my idolatry of my social media status.

I ended the the first Generation Overshadowed by Technology post with a drastic challenge to my readers and to myself. This time around, I realize that that is not as feasible since I have lots of responsibilities that involve the internet and my phone. However, I am not posting this sort of post without a change in my own life.

I am going to strive to be much more considerate at home with my usage of social media sites, seek to spend time with friends via face to face interactions, and try and put my thoughts into words, hopefully by using my blog and journal much more than I have in the last two months. Ultimately, I pray that this will strengthen my relationship with the Lord, family and friends.

--GeneticGinger