by Molly Bird

During my time on this earth, many things have changed. From hairstyles to the types of clothing that people wear, we face many alterations from one generation to the next. Yet one thing that has continued to be innovated throughout my lifetime has been technology and the hold that it has on people.

As teens in particular, we can easily find ourselves stuck living our lives behind a little screen that we think holds all of the answers to our numerous questions, but it doesn’t. Yet, we fail to see that those standing in front of us do have those answers that we are looking for, but we just forget to ask them because it is much more scary for us to have to go up to someone and talk to them then to type something in and get a result within an instant.

As a teenager, I see technology in my everyday life. We use it for so many things such as texting, homework, research and social media. Although these things are all great in their own ways, they can sometimes cause a huge distraction. When trying to do homework, I find myself easily preoccupied by the idea that my phone is sitting idly by and I could be doing something more “important” with it.

The idea of importance when it comes to technology is something that I fail to completely understand. We find ourselves solely relying on technology instead of going up to another person and asking for their ideas and opinions. Throughout that process, we are losing new ways of thinking and the chance to broaden our horizons.

When thinking about life before any forms of technology that we have today, we often associate it with long handwritten notes traveled by snail mail and we often think about how slow and laborious this task must have been. Yet, it added a much more personal touch to whatever was being said. In the past, women who didn’t have the ability to write an acceptable letter were not looked well upon in society.

Saying that technology has changed us is a major understatement. We are less likely now than we ever were before to simply start a conversation with someone about who knows what. Communication is so vital to our success and so losing it because of these little devices would be devastating. It is a part of our human nature to converse with one another and we are less likely to do so if we are stuck living life inside our own personal bubbles.

Growth and development is important to everyone. When we use technology so often that it interferes with chances to grow and develop as we should, we are sacrificing great opportunities for what? A chance to text someone for three hours talking about what they’re doing and trying to find some relevance in the conversation?

Although technology is becoming more and more apparent in the workplace, it is not necessary for us to be on it 24/7.

It is important to know how to use these new innovations but it’s just not necessary to be spending as much time on it as most of us are. Instead of living our lives behind a screen, we should all take some time and experience the world and all of the amazing things that it has to offer.