Just be careful not to pocket-dial
By Joshua Fedder
As a senior, being in a lower division communications course is something of an embarrassment, but it has got me thinking a fair bit about something that is important to all of us: technology. We all know and recognize that it is more or less inescapable. You could put away your computer and phone and Internet forever, but then you would be separating yourself from the world in dangerous ways.
Technology has become so integrated in our society that on some levels it is absolutely necessary to keep the world functioning. On other levels, it can be a daily distraction.
The needless and repetitive Facebook checking, watching videos on Youtube and looking at your phone every 12.5 seconds are things you could remove from your life with little to no consequence -- so why don't you do it?
Facebook and cell phones have changed everything about our daily interactions. With them, it's like you are in a crowded room with all your friends.
You can talk to any one of them, at any second, almost instantly, with the exception of when they are in class, in which you can still text them. This drastically changes social dynamics, because you can be in an actual room of crowded people while talking to your personal room of crowded people.
If we are always potentially in every place our friends are at every time, it detracts from what we have going on right now. I don't think it destroys our interactions entirely, but it is definitely a great distraction at times.
These technologies allow us to be in social situations while at the same time isolating ourselves socially -- it seems counter-intuitive, but it's true.
This is why we get drunk. With the slow decay of daily, interpersonal, face-to-face interaction comes an increasing need for that interaction. People have always imbibed in order to be social, but now that need is increasing. Think about what you do with your phone after two or three beers, or glasses of wine, shots, or whatever. You start to ignore it. It may vibrate in your pocket and you could completely forget about it.
Where do you put your phone when you have been drinking? You set it down somewhere, you put it in an environment where it is part of the social climate that you are also a part of and it isn't necessarily glued inside your pocket.
This is also why every week or so you get an invitation to a Facebook group saying, "My phone took 12 shots and needs new numbers!"
And isn't it more satisfying when we are drinking, socializing and not so concerned with the rings and vibrations coming from our waists?
The inverse relationship between drinking and caring about your phone results in higher quality, though not necessarily as sensible, interpersonal interaction.
If alcohol is the only way we can escape our technology and phone addictions, then I think we will all probably become alcoholics.
We love the interactions we get and it isn't just because we are drinking and losing social inhibitions. It is because we are being with people in time. Ever try to carry on a conversation with someone on a phone during a party? Not going to happen.
When it comes down to it, we don't care what is going on in our phones. As individuals, we select the context in which a conversation over the phone takes place.
This context is always inside our own heads, but if we're truly absorbed in our present situation, the phone call becomes less satisfying and more of a distraction.
I think this is how it should be all the time. The person in front of us should exhibit a greater demand and reception of our attention than whatever may be vibrating in our pocket.
If that means drinking constantly, then don't do it. I think we ought to all remember that the best kinds of friendships and interactions are made in the same place, at the same time, without radio signals and electronic chips carrying our voices through the speakers.
Oh, and phones and Facebook make it way easier to find parties -- so I guess technology gets us drunk in that way too.
Joshua Fedder is a senior psychology major.