Iâm seriously tired of the message âtechnology has made us all zombies and we donât talk to each other anymoreâ. Yes, there are serious problems. Yes, there is a large amount of room for improvement.
But you know what I did before technology? You know what I did before I had a phone?Â
Nothing. When I was in school I brought novels with me every day and I read them. I didnât talk. I managed to make a few friends and only had fun with them because they forced me to do things that I hated. I donât like parties and clubs and other stuff, every single bit of that was hell for me, because I like quiet and suck at conversation and places like that were nothing but balls of stress to me.Â
If not for technology, I would still be a miserable pile of constant anxiety, afraid to break out of a routine for fear Iâd do/say something wrong and stupid. I never talked or socialized and when I did muster up the nerve to speak it was always awkward or too blunt. I became known as a cold-hearted bitch who was mean to everyone, even though what I mostly did was go home and cry and call myself stupid.
Computers changed all of that for me, showed me for the first time that there were people like me. The better tech got, the more I opened up. But I still was pretty alone when not around people I knew, because Iâm not a talker, not really.Â
Chatting online - chat rooms, emails, lj comms, fanfiction, all of that taught me how to be social. All of that helped me be braver, made me more willing to talk to people anywhere, everywhere. Itâs less overwhelming to me now to have to go into a strange room and talk to people. I donât go deer in the headlights now when someone randomly starts talking to me.Â
My phone also helps when Iâm being harassed. Back when I didnât have a phone, if the nutjobs on the bus or in the airport started harassing me, I had no choice but to endure it until it was over or try to say something or just leave and risk whatever the fuck happened next. Now? I always have my phone. I can always call and say âtalk to me so this person leaves me aloneâ. I can text someone to come rescue me at the bar. I can fucking call for help at the drop of a dime if I have to. Airports are no longer a terrifying place where I will be stuck for hours with no one to talk to unless I want to risk an uncomfortable, even dangerous, situation.
Technology made me more aware of the problems and challenges that other people face. It showed me a broader world. Itâs made me more patient with people, itâs made me more determined to remember that you never know what someone is going through.
If not for technology, I never would have been brave enough to try writing. I doubt Iâd be an author right now. I certainly never would have met this crazy chick who was living in Vermont and was just as miserable as me. I never would have emailed her every morning and night and texted all through work and wound up with my best friend and current roommate slash business partner.Â
So donât fucking tell me that technology is turning us into zombies that donât communicate.
And people donât just enjoy each other? thatâs such bullshit. I was at a concert just a couple days ago. The radio was playing while they waited for the show to start, and Gangnam Style came on. The entire fucking building exploded with people dancing and cheering and laughing and having a good time together for no reason more than we were all amused as fuck that song came on the radio.
I see that kind of thing happen all the time. Weâll randomly be talking about something on someoneâs phone at a restaurant and the waiter will chip in because he recognizes it. Iâve shot the shit with so many people over something that was happening on someoneâs phone. People I may not have talked to otherwise.
Technology is quite literally one of the main reasons I live a brighter, louder, happier life than I would have otherwise. Like goddamn hell am I a zombie.
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