The other day, I logged on to Facebook at about 9 p.m., and I happened to glance at the chat window. It claimed none of my friends were online. Not a single one.
Now, I understand that sort of thing could theoretically happen, even at 9 p.m. when there are usually tons of people on, but the thought seemed pretty hard to accept. I instantly assumed Facebook chat must have been working incorrectly because that seemed infinitely more likely than everyone I know doing something other than Facebook.
I made this assumption for two reasons. First, when dealing with most Facebook features, the answer to the question “Is it broken?” is usually, “Yes.” And second, I know my friends too well. They, like most college-age students, spend a great deal of time on Facebook, probably too much time, depending on who you ask.
A lot of people lately have been saying our lives have become so wired and certain forms of technology have become so ubiquitous that it’s become pretty much impossible for most people to live without them. And I, for one, can understand where they’re coming from.
A little over a year ago, I got a new iPhone – her name is iRene. It was one of those purchases which made me really happy for about two weeks, at which point I got used to having all the features, and it became a little less exciting (though it is, at least, still gratifying when I get to pretentiously show it off).
Last week, iRene passed away due to a tragic lack of battery power. An hour or so (I don’t know the exact time, because I always used to check that on my phone) elapsed before I could get iRene back to a charger to revive her. This was one of the longest and most painful hours of my life. Knowing I was unable to make calls or check my e-mail gave me a sense of soul-crushing isolation.
And yet, for 99.7 percent of human history, before cell phones were widespread, situations like that were perfectly normal. Even as recently as last year, I usually went for the better part of a day without checking my e-mail. And now, the very thought sounds like something out of the Dark Ages, simply because the technology has gone from being a novelty to being a necessity.
Have we become overly addicted to technology? For a long time now, people have been claiming we have, but the evidence has always been a little underwhelming (such as the earth-shattering 2001 study concluding children who watch a lot of TV are more likely to be obese).
But lately, the evidence has gotten a bit more compelling. Internet addictions (particularly gaming and social networking addictions) have now become so common that rehabilitation services have started popping up across the country. One such company which should never have existed, a Washington-based organization called reSTART, offers a 45-day program guaranteed to curb your dependence on chatting, texting, gaming, online gambling or other technology-related habits. This service is available to anyone who has (or whose parents want them to have) a genuine desire to overcome an addiction.
That and $15,500.
And sadly enough, this may be a worthwhile investment for some. A “World of Warcraft” addict who can break the habit, for instance, will save quite a bit on the monthly fees alone. If you look at it from that standpoint, reSTART pays for itself in just 19.9 years (let’s temporarily ignore silly concepts like the time value of money and everything else which would poke holes in that argument).
Even for people who aren’t as susceptible to addiction, ubiquitous technology has caused a few drawbacks. People have gotten so used to multitasking in the age of instant gratification, the average college student’s attention span has reached a historic low.
So have we finally reached the point where we need to unplug for our own good? Despite the growing evidence pointing in that direction, I’m still unconvinced.
Personally, I am a huge fan of instant gratification. I’d take it over having an attention span any day. There are some perks which go along with having immediate access to pretty much anything. The kids growing up in the Internet generation have developed an unprecedented ability to process information so long as there are no shiny objects around to distract them. That’s a pretty useful talent to have.
And yes, there are people out there who would say the frequency of Internet addiction reflects an over-dependence on technology, or the widespread use of TVs and computers is causing us to become too sedentary, or there’s something wrong with me liking iRene more than most of my actual friends.
But come on, she has eight gigabytes of memory. I mean seriously, eight gigabytes! Plus a multi-touch screen, a built-in GPS and 3G capabilities. I can check Facebook, Shazam music or look up anything on Wikipedia with a single touch. It’s like I have the culmination of human civilization in my pants pocket.
Was I going somewhere with that thought? Something about addiction, I think. Oh well, it probably wasn’t important.
McNeill Williford is a senior majoring in industrial engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].