Our Digital Lives

http://www.archivefilter.net/tenurefile/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bInvisibleDynamics.pdf

The above article, written by Meghan Dougherty, was an interesting article in the way it made me reflect. It was one of those kinds of feelings where someone mentions something that seems overly obvious but at the same time makes you think about that obvious idea more so than you ever had. It's obvious that our lives are more and more intertwined with the digital world. But the more you think about it, the crazier it seems. The craziness is amplified when you think of how fast this dependence has evolved. Not that long ago, the internet, cell phones, computers, etc. were all almost non-existent in our every day lives. However, today, we take technology for granted. we use it for so many things. I use my phone to wake up. Then once I am awake, I use it to catch myself up with the latest news, sports, and happenings among my friends. This keeping up with friends, used to not be a daily thing at all. You would catch up with people when you saw them, if you saw them. Now, we seem to know what everyone is up to and what they did anytime, any day. We use Fitbits to help us and track us with our exercise and other daily doings. We integrate our schedules onto our phones, our laptops, now even our watches, so we can get reminders and not forget. Our homework in schools is almost always turned in electronically. We apply for schools online; paper applications are virtually a thing of the past. Even our happiness can be linked to our technology and digital lives; seeing stories or pictures online can influence our mood. Getting texts from certain people can brighten our day without us actually having to see those people in person. We can essentially live our entire day our week, even month without interacting with people face to face. Now, it's not an ideal or necessarily healthy way to live but it is seemingly more and more possible. This causes me a little concern, even though the potential is astounding and often technology is extremely helpful and convenient. It makes me nervous, thinking about the impact and gravity of a situation where something happens that might cause this technology to fail us. What if all of a sudden we lose control of it, or it just fails us and we lose everything it holds? What then?