Plugging Myself In

Image via the Wikimedia Commons

In the past decade, education and technology have both advanced quite dramatically, each suddenly becoming dependent on the other. When I started taking AP classes in high school, this fact became very apparent. Most of my homework demanded constant access to the internet, which was difficult because my family only owned one computer at the time (strange, right?). Eventually, my parents became very annoyed over being cut off from the computer and, luckily for me, it made convincing them to buy me a laptop very effective.

This one simple purchase has changed my life forever. Owning my Dell has allowed me to stay in contact with other individuals, to follow current news, and to academically further myself. However, owning your own laptop can also be a bad thing. There have been many times where it’s distracted me from doing my homework and even complicated my social life. Sometimes you have to wonder if being plugged into technology is really worth the pay off!

When I first received my laptop, everything was wonderful, except that it took me an extra week of hassling with FedEx to actually get the stupid package! Suddenly, my workload for school seemed a lot more manageable, and my AP classes appeared to be slightly less vicious. Having constant access to Word and the internet made everything so much faster and more efficient. However, not only did my laptop allow me to further my academics, but it also gave me extra free time to do the things that pursuing my education without a laptop had hindered me from. It allowed me to quickly stay up to date with current news (which I had given up watching on TV because it took up too much of my time) and communicate with my friends (I didn’t have a cell phone back then so Instant Messenger was my life). These fun and personal aspects of my laptop, however, are what eventually ended up complicating my life.

We all start out each school year with the best of academic intentions but, sometimes, things just happen. Eventually, surfing the web, IM’ing my friends, and constantly watching YouTube started to take priority over school work. Heck, I blew off writing this article just yesterday because of my addiction with Netflix! Luckily for me, although it meant extreme procrastination at times, I always ended up pulling through with solid grades. However, my academic life wasn’t the only thing altered by my new hunk of technology, my social life changed as well. Spending more time talking with my friends automatically increased our odds of getting into arguments, and, trust me, we did. Although I’m not the confrontational type, being behind the screen made it a lot easier to fight back with them. I could say whatever I wanted to without having to look them in the eyes, and I still regret some of the things I said to this day. No one’s perfect, but I still shouldn’t have said what I did and am very grateful that my friends and I were able to work things out in the end.

Being ‘plugged in’ to technology is always a complex situation. On one hand, it can really benefit your life. It can keep you ‘in the know’, connect you with your friends, and further your academic studies. On the other hand, it can really muck things up. Technology tends to be very distracting and can cause relationships to become drama-filled. So, is technology worth it? Honestly, I don’t really think there’s a definite answer. I guess you just have to take the risk and find out for yourself!