As my children head into the second hour of the morning hammering away at their Nintendo DS Mario Brothers video game, one of two things is now happening... The first, is that I am having fond memories of getting totally absorbed into the "oldschool" Nintendo gaming system when I was their age. I will never forget how some other force took over me as I said my first curse words during the Mike Tyson's Knock Out game. Suddenly, my whole life flashed before me as my older brother came stammering in from his room, turned the game off, and stared at me in disbelief as he wondered how it could be possible that his little sister was now going to require an exorcism over a game.
The second thing that is happening is that I am thinking about what all of this technology has really done to us. In a world where drive texting is as scary as drunk driving. And in that same world, I was excited to recently have a power outage because my children would have to talk to me without any distractions in the room. Everywhere we look, there are distractions and ways to escape our own reality. Technology has made this all too easy. When we are fed up with our intimate relationships, the computer is there for us! Complete with the attractive fasod of more beautiful people, with less issues. People that you can satisfy needs with, yet, don't have to pay the bills with. Even better, you also get to hide behind the same mask that the computer provides. One study done at UCLA indicated that up to 93 percent of communication effectiveness is determined by non-verbal cues. I always wonder why I chose to conduct so many of my deep conversations through texting so automatically. I also wonder why we post such serious and personal things on a facebook forum. We can always find an easy and convenient way to communicate. The question is, are we losing each other and ourselves in the process? What are we missing? Could we relate better to one another before all this?
