Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Death to personal relationships

On the radio, two DJs discussed how one girl said that her sacrifice for lent would be to not use facebook and how outdated the cellphone had become. Gone are the days of saving birthdays on our phone calendars and texting the celebrant on their special day. Now, we just log on to facebook, confident that anyone celebrating their birthday would be indicated on their wall and then simply sending a birthday greeting.

So the question is - is there an inverse proportion between technology and our personal relationships? Such that when technology increases, the quality of our personal relationships decrease? While we are able to connect with those far away through technology, its use has become so pervasive, that even if the person is right next to you, you’d still use a computer or cellphone to communicate. Will the day come when we can no longer experience the joy of interacting with one another and all we’ll be able to feel is a dusty old keyboard? Are we willing to sacrifice one of the joys in being human for mere convenience? Sad and difficult as these questions may be, it should lead us to stop and reflect on which of the two we value more and want to protect.

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