Imagine a scenario with me.  You need to get a hold of a friend; what is the first thing you do? If the answer is like most college students today, including me, you pick up your phone and send a text message.

Texting seems to be the most popular way to get a hold of someone and sometimes we do this even though we can see the person sitting just across the room. In our technological society, in some ways we have become slaves to our technology.

We are constantly on our computers, listening to our iPods and if we were without our various forms of technology, I am sure we would feel lost. Over the weekend, I went from being able to have  Internet access on my computer on Saturday night to not having Internet access for reasons unknown to myself. My roommates’ computer worked just fine and I was able to connect to Netflix using my Wii console.

Part of the reason this situation had me in such a panic was I was now unable to do my Spanish homework. I was unable to get on Facebook and catch up with the games I play on there. I was so worried about these trivial things that it was all I seemed to be able to focus on and I could not think about anything else. This shows, at least for me, how much I depend on technology on a daily basis to do everyday tasks, whether or not they are important to everyday life.

Another reason technology can be seen as a bad thing is it can be very expensive. People are looking for the next big thing and always seem to want the newest technology even though the product that they have works just fine for what they need it to do. When I bought myself a new laptop last summer, I didn’t get the newest edition of the fanciest computer I could find. Instead I bought myself one that was a reasonable price that would suit my needs and do what I needed the computer to do for as long as I was in school. I hope to upgrade it someday in the future, but for now it does what I need it to do.

Technology can be used for good as well as being a distraction. Like I said, I have to do my homework for Spanish online and without the Internet I would not be able to do my homework and would fail my class.

Technology is also useful because it helps people stay in touch with friends who have moved far away where sometimes calling them on the phone or even texting them is not an option.

I have a couple of friends serving overseas in Japan who are expecting their first child within the month. Because of the technology we now possess and with Facebook, I am able to keep in touch with them and also able to see pictures of my friend as her pregnancy progresses. For people who are in long distance relationships, technology is a valuable asset.

When phone calls are not possible or in some cases are not even allowed to happen, having the Internet and instant messaging services such as Skype are great ways to keep in touch with the people you love and want to communicate with.

So while technology is sometimes a bad thing, there is always two sides to the story and both need to be taken into consideration when looking at something as widely talked about as this topic seems to be.