Life changed by Technology

When I was born in 1997, there wasn't a huge demand or want for anything having to do with technology. Very few people had a cell phone and most of the computers that were inside of citizen's homes were very slow do to dial up connection. Over the years; however, technology has become a necessity in every day life.

During my toddler years I didn't sit inside on a gaming console or a computer unless it was for a punishment or if it was raining outside. Every day I would be outside playing with my friends or riding my bike. Technology was very uncommon in my early years for every day life.

As I grew older, I began to enjoy sitting down some nights and playing the Nintendo 64 with my friends. Pac-Man, Super Mario, and Mortal Combat were the few games we enjoyed playing. It became something we would do quite often, but if it was nice outside we weren't sitting indoors. At this time, almost every adult had a cell phone, but even teenagers didn't have them when I was growing up, at least not yet.

A few years later the console age started to reach a peak. Sony and Microsoft developed the Playstation and the Xbox. My friends and I began to stay indoors a lot more to play games with one another rather than going outside. Teenagers began carrying around flip-phones, which were the coolest thing at the time. Every younger kid wanted a cell phone like their older siblings or their parents. Texting was just starting to become a worldwide thing, but it was difficult for some since the cell phones still contained the number dial keypad. In the early to mid 2000's, cell phone companies, such as Samsung, came out with cell phones that slid up with a full "qwerty" keyboard to make texting easier for everyone. It wasn't until I was in the 6th grade when I received my first cell phone. At the time, I felt as if I was in a whole new class of people.

Around 2010, touch screens began to rule the cell phone kingdom and apps were becoming to take over. People could now use social media and play games on their cell phones. Many hours were spent each day looking down at cell phones, which in turn leads to less face-to-face communication. When I go out to eat I look around and always see people looking down at their phones as if the presence of others is non-existing. On the holidays when my family meets at my grandparents house I have to wait for the person I want to interact with to look up from their phone before they will have a conversation with me. As I walk around the college campus I see everyone looking down at their phones when you pass them instead of giving the occasional "hello" to one another.

What started off as a great thing for our generation is now slowly beginning to destroy our every day interactions. Soon the majority of the population will have a hard time speaking to others in public and eventually one-on-one interactions will die out. So turn off the phone every now and then, and embrace what's around you. Pull your head out of the fantasy world and live a little bit.