Yet More Proof Giving Up Facebook was a Good Idea

You know what's better than Facebook? How about playing board games face to face at the coffee shop with five different people this weekend? : ) Not only did I get to interact with these five wonderful people who amaze me every time I see them, but people from the shop came up and chatted about the game and asked what we were playing...so fun!

My co-worker informed me the other day that the year 1975 separates the technology natives from the technology immigrants. This is the year Pong was released for home use. It marks the first time in history humans interacted with technology. A pixel on a screen could now be controlled with the flick of wrist. And now, I can instantly let my 200 friends know where I am with the point of a finger on my touch screen. We interact with screens on a daily, hourly?, basis. People born before this date are the technology immigrants. They did not grown up with this face to screen interaction. Those born after Pong have not known a world without screens (at home, at church, at the bank, at school, in the car, at restaurants, etc). Screens have become almost lifelike to us. People are as comfortable, maybe even more comfortable sometimes, interacting with a screen than real people. A recent article I read talked about how it is easier to say sentimental things online and make a bigger deal of these encripted messages forever stores on a network drive somewhere in outer space than to say them face to face.

My friend, Liz, posted this on her facebook (how ironic):

Toughest college test: No cell phone, no Facebook

It is the same kind of de-sensitizing that I hope to accomplish (and see being accomplished) by my Lenten fast of denying Facebook (though, I'll admit, I've cheated extensively).

Now, I'll admit. Technology is great. Its why you can read my blog and people can share thoughts. Its why I'm even still in touch with Liz (a high school friend I haven't seen face to face in years). But it must be used sparingly and we must remember our main form of interaction (face to face, eye to eye).