Sherry Turkle’s words still sound
in my head: “I have a feeling so I want to make a call (or text)” or “I want to
have a feeling so I need to send a text”. This paradoxical scenario takes us to
the question: What are we really using technology for? Do people really need to
share or communicate something or they just can’t face the fact of being with
themselves which makes them get engage in meaningless virtual interactions?
Even though I feel I can control it,
I felt myself part of this game short ago.
I’ve always used my phone to get
(or send) some pieces of information to complete my daily tasks (google an
address, ask a colleague to send me a document I need to work on, saying
someone I love you, schedule a meeting with some friends, send a funny meme to
cheer up someone else’s day, etc.) but most of the times prioritizing face to
face interaction because that’s the way we really understand and know each
other.
However, since I got to NY
distance has make technology be the only way I can get in touch with my love
ones from my home country. I became more dependent of my cell phone and other
technological devices. My interactions through technology increased at the
point that I would prefer online interaction over offline. I’ve even tried to
get in touch with others in lonely moments through meaningless interactions, as
Sherry stated: to feel less anxious, to feel alive… to try to feel something.
To be in a relationship with someone
much more dependent than myself from online interactions has been the key to open
my eyes and see the problem as an “affected” outsider and experience what this
addiction to the “I post therefore I am” situation can really cause in the
construction of relationships. How unnecessary is to try to be everywhere else
when the person you love is right in front to you trying to speak his/her heart
out.
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