Plugged In

Over the Labor Day weekend, I went home to spend time with my extended family at my aunt's barbecue. While I was there, my cousin's husband started firing off criticisms each time I glanced at my cell phone or iPod.

Time for a confession: Hi. My name is Melissa, and I'm addicted to my iPod touch.

Like all of my cousins, Pat is like a brother to me and this banter is normal between us. That night, we spawned a fierce debate surrounding the value of social media in today's society. As it turns out, his recent train of thought has been inspired by a book called "The Dumbest Generation," which analyzes the moral and social erosion common in my age group. Mark Bauerlein notes that more often than not, we are motivated and involved with others not on a personal level as our parents are, but a technological one.

Let's face it: it's virtually impossible to walk down Route 322 in Glassboro and not notice someone either talking on the phone, sending a text, or listening to music. Try to catch their eye, and they probably won't notice you (or the oncoming traffic!) at all. In early July when I was interning with a local paper, our supervisor held an informal meeting with all the interns to see how we were adjusting. Two interns had their phones vibrate in the process -- one glanced to see who texted him, and the other picked up her phone to text back as if we weren't even there. Our supervisor pointed it out to the rest of us, and the offending interns looked sheepish. "It's just a habit," she told him honestly.

Tuning out the real world is no longer something we have to work at. It's now a lifestyle. My mother calls it the "tech bubble." We are starving for community, connections and relationships, but it's shallow at best when done through a screen.

We have grown up in a society that is so connected and instantly gratifying, yet what do we have to show for it? The cousin I mentioned above is a manager at a well-known car insurance company, and the current crop of 20-somethings he oversees are often too obsessed with their gadgets to get work done. In noticeable ways, the productivity in that office suffers.

I'm not going to lie; I'm just as guilty of this as a lot of my peers. I do turn off my techie gear when I'm sleeping or at Mass, and make it a point to fast entirely from those things on retreats. In so many ways, we can become distracted by all of these bells and whistles that threaten to pull us out of the here are now. While they're definitely useful, they can also be a great detriment both socially and spiritually. How often do I blow off praying or just taking some me time because I've procrastinated homework in favor of Facebook?

My generation is famous for multitasking. But it's amazing how much more grounded I become when I take even 15 minutes of my day to shut it all off and just be still.