Are we too connected (with our gadgets)??

"You are way too connected homes"

-Anonymous

Twitter

Facebook

Linkedin

Myspace (do people over 15 still use myspace?)

Those are the only four social networks I could think of, but I am positive there are at least a dozen others. 

Flashback to my childhood. When we were at dinner we sat and talked to each other. It went something like this: 

Dad: "How was school today? Tell me something new you learned"

Me: "It was fine. I'm tired of school. Can we talk about something else?"

Dad: "No matter how tired you are of school, do not ever stop learning because learning will keep you young. Besides, your education is one of the few things a yt man can't take from you. Pass the gravy. 

When I got my first cell phone in middle school, I was immediately given "the talk" about courtesy and it was understood that I would not take it out at the dinner table or during family functions.

 

Fastfoward. Now I see children texting, tweeting, and IMing at the dinner table. The parents have either scorned them and accepted defeat or are doing the same thing. 

My younger sister recently proclaimed she hadn't had her new phone for a month and she had sent 4,098 text messages. I'm not too far behind her (I feel you judging me).  On Twitter, I can find out what my tweeps (twitter people) had for lunch and what they are thinking about having for dinner. We vent, we have fun with trending topics (subjects people are tweeting about the most), and offer inspirational words. Most people not on twitter wonder what is there to tweet about and why do I even care? My answer: If you're not on twitter you wouldn't understand. Moving on.

There are services which encourage us to stay connected.  Tweetdeck allows you to link all of these accounts with one click. You can update all of them at once and create columns for each separate account so that everything is right in front of you. Cell phone companies have responded by offering unlimited data packages and unlimited everything (talk, text, web) packages for $99 or less. Networks have expanded into areas that were previously "dead zones." Thus, parents no longer have to get rid of their blackberry's while camping because now they can get a signal.

Facebook allows us all to share our photos, thoughts and personal info. With the best in mind, it is an effective tool to stay connected with friends and family you may be away from. As discussed yesterday, everyone does not have the best intentions.When I log off, I can still access my messages and notifications via my Facebook mobile app.

There are instant messaging services like BBM, AIM, Gchat which are quickly replacing text messages as a way to communicate with friends via cell phone without talking. Even when I log off via my computer, I can still receive messages from my "buddies" via text.

I, for one, am attached to my gadget. I use it to keep me calm in awkward situations. Its like my security blanket only is black with a QWERTY keyboard and fits into my back pocket. If I lost my phone I would lose a lot of important information. I have a calendar where I set my appointments and reminders, I would lose phone numbers (because I only know about 10 numbers by heart) and a wide array of other info. I  Even though I feel you judging me, I feel no need to hide my connectedness. I joke that my business card should have my twitter, facebook, YouTube channel, phone number, email and Linkedin account. 

There is a downside to being so connected. We do not spend our time building meaningful relationships because we are often preoccupied fidgeting with our gadgets. The number of accidents caused by distracted drivers has quickly reached astonishing and has prompted Oprah to start a crusade in the form of a phone pledge.

Just for laughs, here a few funny (at least I found them humorous) cell phone commercials I found:

Technology can be good or bad. I think it is important that we keep in mind how much humans need human contact. Resist the temptation to completely withdraw from the world and only communicate from afar. 

My question to you all is do you think we too connected to our gadgets? Is it time to disconnect? Or is it necessary? It could be that we think we are too connected to work or that we feel a disconnect with those around us. Don't be shy...