We live in the twenty-first century. No longer do we have to send letters through the pony express to stay in touch with our friends. All we need to do is leave a witty post on their wall or type a quick TXT on our phone. Instead of scratching our history homework on a stone tablet, we have the luxury of processing it on a computer. Technology is supposed to make our lives faster and simpler, but it remains difficult to fully agree that we are better off than we were before this fast-pace electronic world was created.

People’s real lives have become too intertwined with their internet lives. In this day and age, it seems as if we rarely have a moment truly to ourselves. You may think that you are alone, but you are always plugged in, connected to others by some sort of wire or cable. Let’s look at Facebook. The makers say themselves that it’s designed to “connect you with the people around you.” News feeds and status updates keep a person informed of all the actions of their friends, a term used to loosely encompass anyone that you allow to see your profile. Tracking up-to-the-minute changes, someone sitting at home in front of their computer can know if “Wendy has just been superpoked!” or “Bob has just changed his status from single to in a relationship.”

Even if you as a human are not online, your life and profile is like an open book to be read by anyone at anytime. It’s as if stalking people has become normal and acceptable. Before internet networking tools like Myspace and Facebook, no one would have known this much about people that weren’t their friends.

The rapid development of technology has set the bar higher in school . Students are required to complete work faster and to a higher level because they have open access to the unlimited reference tool that is the internet. Then, when finished, they have to submit their work to plagiarism-checking sites like Turnitin​.com. Both kids and parents become upset when teachers do not publish up-to-the-minute grades on the Source, and teachers are expected to respond to student emails during all after-school hours. Before, communicating with teachers outside of school was limited to emergencies. Now, it has become a routine expectation.

It is hard to say what this increased level of technology has done to our speaking and communication skills. On the one hand, the accessibility of communication means that people are always typing and always practicing their writing skills. If we look at what is written, though, it’s easy to be skeptical of any true benefits.

Language has been simplified to fit our technological society’s need for speed and convenience. People now rely on quick abbreviations and sayings such as LOL or TTYL to convey their thoughts. By the same token, using words that were previously common in intelligent conversation has become something to be frowned upon as pretentious or snobbish. At the same time, studies show that less than 10% of what we communicate is related to the actual words that we speak. That means that the majority of our meaning is expressed through actions and body language. It makes a person wonder how much is actually lost in translation with technological communication.

Technology has come to sterilize the exchange of information. Reading a book is a personal experience – the author is speaking to the reader. Somehow, reading an article off of a computer screen does not have the same effect. Because internet information is designed to appeal to a wide audience, it de-personalizes the content.

I have a love-hate relationship with technology. On some days, I get so frustrated by the total consumption of my life by the internet that I want to destroy my computer. The time that I waste on the internet could be spent being productive. But then I wonder: what would I do without it? It’s hard to imagine life without all the conveniences of today. Yet every expediency comes at a price.