Words With Friends?

     Alright, so I know that I'm a little late with this one but this is the first time I've actually had time to sit down and write. I want to talk about how technology and social media effect our interpersonal relationships. It is amazing how our phones can completely captivate our attention for hours on end. The apps, texts, emails, videos, whatever it is, seems to be able to hold our focus for much longer than a face-to-face conversation ever does. Our interpersonal skills are becoming scarce among this generation. Kids don't know how to hold a conversation with adults anymore or are too busy with their phones, iPods, or tablets to even care to respond to those around them. This is going to cause a huge tare in how things work in our world. As a society, we are communication driven. We don't know what someone wants unless they tell us and conflict is always addressed head on in our society. Without these interpersonal skills to resolve problems in our everyday lives, the world that we know will crumble under the technological world we are trying to build.
     My example of a lack of interpersonal communication is my family. Over Christmas this year, both of my grandmas had come down to Zionsville to visit the family and spend the holiday with us. They had both just recently gotten smart phones and my sisters and I were teaching them how to use them. At this time, one of my most used apps on my iPhone was "Words With Friends." Both of my grandmas love scrabble and so I thought it would be nice for them to be able to play it on their new phones. We introduced the app to them and they loved it. To make a long story short, on the last day of their trip, my entire family (Mom, Dad, both Grandmas, my two little sisters and myself) were all sitting in the same room, completely silent all playing Words With Friends with each other... Now if this isn't a great example of what technology has done to our lives, I don't know what is. I looked up at this time and realized how absolutely ridiculous we all seemed. I think this is the first time I ever truly realized the effects of technology and social media on our every day lives.
     After being in this class for about a month, I have really tried to limit my use of social media. Like other students have said, I try to not take my phone out at bus stops or when walking somewhere alone but it has become second nature to me and I can't help but do it sometimes. I have to truly think about not using my phone in these situations. As the days go on though, I have realized that I have, in fact, begun to limit the amount of time I am on social media and my phone. I have noticed that when I go on Twitter, it has been several hours (anywhere between 5-8) since I last refreshed my Twitter page. I would say this is a huge improvement on my part. I have realized that I depended on my phone quite a bit in the past and I have begun to turn that trend around. I don't need my phone as much as I thought I did, but I still hate not having it on me. It is my security blanket. I definitely agree with the statement that as a generation, we have a close tie to technology and almost don't know what to do when we are without it.