This past summer I spent a few days in Cuba, and “different” is the least I can say it was. First off, the country — and more so Havana — looks as if it froze in time. There’s no such thing as a “new” car in Cuba, and some of the people’s homes look like abandoned buildings. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful country full of beautiful — literally — people.
Whenever I travel, I have the luxury of borrowing my father’s iPad and checking my e-mail, Facebook, etcetera. However in Cuba, I was absolutely disconnected from the United States, at least it felt that way. It seemed as if no one had Internet connection, and there were only two Internet cafes in Havana. That’s when I realized how reliant the U.S. has become on Internet.
Both the computer and the Internet are probably two of the inventions that have had the biggest impact on our everyday lives. We have become such an informed mass of people that if we are not updating our knowledge everyday, we feel incomplete in a way. Of course what sort of knowledge we are taking in is absolutely selective, but regardless, we have become hungry for information that mostly comes from our Internet use.
Some participants of a United Kingdom poll tried a one-day Internet deprivation challenge — and one said it was “like having my hand chopped off,” reported a Los Angeles Times article.
At the same time, 23 percent of those that participated in the poll said that being deprived of the Internet made them feel “free.”
Right now, it seems that the Internet has a largely positive influence on our lives. It serves as a speedy medium of communication that can be used to reach numerous parts of the world. For this reason, our dependence on it is rather strong, and what does this mean for our future?
With the iPhone 5 coming out very soon, hype is beginning to build up. Why? Because this iPhone has new features such as wireless charging, iCloud, possible voice recognition and face recognition (for the Face Time application). Basically what iPhones are, and any other smart phone for that matter, is our own miniature computer, through which we can Facebook, Tweet, check our e-mail, and so on. All of this just increases our reliability on technology.
Whether or not technology, and more specifically the Internet, has done more harm than good no one can tell. That mostly depends on the person anyway. What I do know, however, is that communication has become an extremely important factor in our every day lives.
You wake up and the first thing you do is check your phone for text messages, missed phone calls, e-mails, etc., and all of this craziness over our new appliances may be for the better.
Sure, one can argue that we are so occupied with technology that we no longer have any personal time or space, and this is absolutely true, but communication is crucial at the same time. It’s a tool that we use everyday and it’s becoming easier and easier to do as time goes on.
We may be losing our minds in the realm of technology and social networking, but at least we’re also learning that our society is a two-way street, where interaction is crucial.
Sonia Guillen is a senior journalism major and opinions editor for the Daily 49er.
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