Hudson: Technology connects globally, distances locally

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By Kirsten Hudson

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

We live in a global world. I can e-mail relatives in New Zealand, find out the news in China and shop in Tahiti, all through my trusty laptop. With communication, distance is no longer a problem. Yet, while we busy ourselves, making distances irrelevant, we can in fact distance ourselves from the people nearest to us.

According to a survey conducted in January by SuperSoft Incorporated, 64 percent of Americans say they spend more time with their computer than with their significant other. While this survey doesn’t consider that a majority of that computer time may be spent at work, the survey does demonstrate the affect technology can bring to our relationships.

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Technology also distances us from spending time with other people. Periodic e-mails, weekly conversations and steady text messages make us feel like we actually have spent time with others.

Technology can affect not just “significant” relationships, but those with friends and family as well. As a freshman in high school, the first major “technological” device I owned (besides a TV) was a computer. For weeks after I first received it, I holed up in my room for days, like a 30-year-old drop-out living in his parents’ basement playing “World of Warcraft.” My game of choice however, was “The Sims,” a computer game that allows you to create people and basically run their lives. I spent hours hunched over my computer creating pretend families and friends while completely ignoring my real ones.

Technology not only brings fast entertainment, but also convenience. Supposedly technology can enhance our relationships, since contacting others through cell phones, e-mail and IM’ing all make the most important factor of relationships, communication, incredibly convenient.

It has become so convenient that I have friends who talk to me through nothing but text messages, making even phone calls obsolete. With college students, it seems as if text messages are becoming the standard form of communication. They are fabulous, if you want to tell a friend about the guy next to you falling asleep and nearly drooling on your shoulder during lecture. But when it’s your sole form of communication, it’s time to rethink your relationships. When it comes to true conversation, convenience isn’t always completely satisfying. Somehow a smiley face sent via text just doesn’t convey the same meaning as a genuine smile.

Technology also distances us from spending time with other people. Periodic e-mails, weekly conversations and steady text messages make us feel like we actually have spent time with others. We can become so caught up in our busy lives that we hardly notice we haven’t actually interacted with anyone. Sometimes I feel as if I’m checking people off a mental list. Yes, called mom. Need to call grandma. Fast communication makes us forget that being together is not the same. It distances us.

As with any good, there’s always a bad. Technology overcomes distances, but also creates them. With close relationships, technological communication should not replace the real kind. At times a relationship with your computer can seem almost human-like. After all, the same emotions are there: fondness, annoyance when it doesn’t work out and anger, but wouldn’t it be more enjoyable (and less weird) to experience these emotions with someone that doesn’t come with a carrying case?

Hudson is a Wichita sophomore in journalism and business.

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