Are We Too Plugged In?

William Powers and Katie Couric make very accurate points while discussing Powers’s book, Hamlets Blackberry. This book was written to enlighten people about how connected and dependent we are on technology. Powers explains the type of impact this has on us and elaborates about what he and his family are doing about it.  Although I love my MacBook, my iPhone, my iPod and all of my other technological devices, I still do believe that we are very “plugged in” society.

            In the beginning of the interview, Powers states “We have adopted this approach that the more connected we are, the better”. This theory is very true-we do believe this in our world today. It usually is a shock to other people if an individual doesn’t have a cell phone, a Facebook, a twitter, etc. He even compares our attachment in a metaphor to sugar. He says that when we actually see the red light on our phone, alarming us that we have a notification, that there is actually a squirt of dopamine that is sent from our brain-just like if we were to see a cookie.

            Another point he makes is how it is impairing our ability to focus. It takes time from our attention span to go from our cell phone to a conversation-back to that text message, etc. He believes that it “prohibits deep thinking”.  According to an article in the New York Times, scientists say that dealing with all different media sources at one time (e-mails, text messages, tweets) affects they way we behave because all of the incoming sources of information (Ritchel). I completely agree with this statement because I know how much a text message can completely mess up my studying for an exam. One text can send my mind in a hundred different directions, distracting me from what I really should be focusing on. Powers even says “I found that all of my original thoughts were going away” [from using to much technology]. When he started to get too attached to groups online-he became a victim of groupthink.

            Katie brings up the theme of self esteem- are we now in the age where we have to “Google” ourselves to see if we matter? Powers responds with “People have always been looking outward, but now we have it all in our hands”. This is such a great observation because our phones are with us all the time and are linked to our friends in so many ways. For the people who look outward for acceptance may depend on the amount of comments they get on Facebook, or the amount of texts they receive in a day-which is attached to us constantly. I do agree with Katie when she says that these texts, phone calls and comments will have an affect on our communication with others because we are missing body language and eye contact. This is something that I agree with because it a crucial part of the way we associate with others. According to an article by Barbara Wheeler called "Texting Affects Communication Skills", children say things over texting that they would never say face to face (Wheeler). Therefore, you could never know someone completely over the phone or via email, because you are missing the majority of the communication. Words can only speak so much.

            Speaking on a personal level, I studied abroad and actually went with out my cell phone for four months. I can’t explain how nice it was too be “unplugged” for such a long period of time. It was so refreshing. I felt like I got to enjoy scenery and nature more than I have ever before. So, overall I do agree with William Powers and his theories about our physical and emotional connections with technology. I also truly condemn him for going weekends with out technology-I think it is very healthy. As much as I love the advances in our world, and having everything be a click away, I sometimes do wonder what it would be like if we didn't have all of this media and technology thrown in our face. Would I have better relationships with people? Would I enjoy nature more? There is no way to really know, considering technology has played a huge role in my life for such a long time.  However, I also do believe that this is a digital age, and it is time to adopt it and accept it-because there is no turning back.