Is it helping us or hurting us?

It’s never been totally clear to me if technology is adding to my life or if it is detracting. I read articles about how being constantly plugged-in is negatively affecting the quality of my life but then others about how that same technology is enhancing the quality of my life by further connecting me to others. With so many mixed messages being sent my way I have often been left in the middle: aspiring to live an “un-plugged” life but so entangled in the social media world that I am almost never more than 5 feet from my phone.

It was refreshing for me to read Danah Boyd’s “Participating in the Always-On Lifestyle” because she talks about being online and now it is not necessarily always a bad thing. There is always, however, a struggle to find a balance. When I am in a social situation or a family dinner, for example, being on Facebook would certainly take away from my real-life experience and memories. But like she says, there’s a way to have the technology there and not to become completely enveloped in it. Finding that balance between keeping up with technology and staying away from it has been a struggle for our generation but it is not one that seems like it is going to go away at anytime soon.