the Informer

From laptops to cell phones to smart phones to Bluetooth wireless headsets to now the iPad, it’s safe to say that technology controls our lives.

Everywhere you go, there’s someone talking on a cell phone or typing away on his or her laptop. Even now, I’m sitting comfortably in a lounge chair checking my e-mail and writing this column using the ever-present wireless Internet.

Technology is something that continues to move forward with new innovations, and it is continuously present in our lives. But I don’t know that it’s something that’s necessarily always good.

I’ve been interrupted by someone’s iPhone or Blackberry pinging with a new e-mail countless times. I have conversations with people every day who are preoccupied looking up something on their laptop. I’m constantly repeating myself to those people who are trying to multitask, and I’m constantly asking others to repeat themselves. It’s a vicious cycle.

Some people are unsatisfied with the new technologies, even after all of the hype. One consumer told CNN.com, “I went to the Store to check out the new Apple iPad today. I went in really wanting to purchase one but came out really disappointed. It is truly an over sized iPod touch, so if you have one of those already, there is nothing really revolutionary about this product.”

Perhaps we are hitting a plateau with technology, where things are not improving and being innovative. Rather, they are just bigger, and perhaps “better,” versions of things that already exist.

I think that with all of these new technologies, we are losing the art of face-to-face and interpersonal interactions. I have noticed that a lot of kids are becoming less and less skilled with interviewing because they spend so much time hiding behind texting and e-mailing. They don’t know how to properly talk to someone in person.

Asking someone to turn off their phone can sometimes be like asking someone if you can take their first-born child. Their reluctance is evident, and they will do everything in their power to find a different solution. They’ll vibrate it. Too noisy? They’ll silence it. Then, they’ll discretely check it every five minutes to see if they’ve gotten a text or to see who’s updated their Twitter account.

Is this a bad thing?

Maybe I’m just overreacting. Maybe I just need to stop questioning it and embrace the fact that immediacy is crucial to our lives, and new technologies give us easier access to immediate news and information. As a journalist, I should love this.

But I’m just old-fashioned. I value a phone call more than a text and a card in the mail more than an e-mail. I would rather talk to you in person and see your emotions than to decipher your emoticons on instant messenger.

While I can appreciate that technologies are making my life a heck of a lot easier, there are so many times when I just want to turn off, unplug and remove myself from everything that is tying me down. But I know that the second I turn my phone back on and switch on my laptop, I’ll be inundated with texts and e-mails asking me why the hell I haven’t gotten back to them earlier.

I should just accept it and move on, but I know I’ll continue to be the one asking you to come talk to me in person rather than e-mailing me. It’s just much more personable, and it’s something I like to see every day.

Maybe, as I begin to embark into the real working world, I’ll find some people who value it just as much as I do.