Falling Down The Rabbit Hole

Technology is a blessing and a curse, we all know this. Lately I've been having an internal struggle about how much will I let technology control my life. It was Instant Messenger, Myspace, then Facebook, Texting, Blogging and now Twitter. When is too much, too much? Our dependency on technology is inhibiting our ability to be social, it's taken the mystery out of dating, and instead added a cold aloofness. "Who talks on the phone anymore?" When you are at dinner with someone, or spending "real time" time with someone, you shouldn't be on your phone, or texting, or facebooking, you should be in the moment with who you are with, and this is not reserved to romantic encounters, this applies to all encounters. There is a slight a rudeness to it, it's like having a conversation with someone and mid-word, they turn and start talking to someone else.

I am guilty of it, so I am pointing my finger at myself, but in our quest to be so accessible you lose "something". I know our social networks are not just real, they are virtual, so spending time IM'ing a friend, is the same as having a drink with a friend, but do the two need to combine. Do you need to tweet your virtual pals, while out with your real pals, or IM your virtual friends, when you have friends visiting. I guess I'm trying to determine, when is the proverbial line crossed? When do you go from socially networked, to virtually obsessed? And the methods of staying in touch keep being developed. So when do you say no? I'm personally stopping at Twitter, I don't need to know your every moment.

I know it happens a lot in dating situations, you're out with friends and your "special friend" calls or texts and your respond, but for how long? Do you keep texting, sparking a conversation and drifting away from your present company, or do you wrap it up and say, I'll talk to you later? Because if it's your intention to chat with your friend through technology, couldn't you have stayed home, and still had that same "social interaction".

I guess I'm just trying to reclaim "the moment". Remember when something good happened, you would enjoy it, and think about it, and feel it, because there was no one to share it with immediately. Then finally you could tell someone about it, and relive the good moment all over again, like it just occurred. Now when something good happens, you can update your status about it, upload mobile photos to go with it, and then discuss what happened, which is fine, but what if by being preoccupied with all of that, you miss another good moment?