McDermott, Vincent


How I Communicate

 

When it comes to technology, I am one broad-rimmed hat away from being declared Amish. While the marvels of modern science continue to amaze me, computers are another story. Sure, I have facebook. I have MSN. I text, I tweet and I blog. I do what is expected of Generation Y, and I often hate it. The fact that the worst job I ever had was working on an assembly line in a computer factory does not improve my love-hate relationship with technology.

I was more or less forced into the online world. It all began when I was 18 and my friends decided they had enough of me repeating my lame stories and stupid jokes. After calling my jokes things like “retarded” or “annoying as hell,” they convinced me to post all my stories on the internet. So I decided to make a blog on blogspot. From there, I began writing stupid blog posts about how it was manly for me to cry during movies like Space Jam and Air Bud.

Eventually, I moved on from writing mock movie reviews on blogs, swiftly deleting the blog (if you were curious, sorry). My first foray into communicating online was embarassing, but convinced me to try other communication tools the internet had to offer. So just before I turned 19, I bought my first cell phone and downloaded MSN messenger for the first time. I had officially “got with the times” at the same time people half my age were.

Suddenly, I was hooked. And not just on MSN and the cell phone, but on all things digital.  I spent hours on the computer talking to people who lived 15 minutes away. I rarely talked on the cell phone; instead I grew enamoured by the text function. I could play a game of Starcraft for four hours against a bunch of guys in Vietnam, Arkansas and Saudi Arabia, then go over to Comedy Central and watch an episode of South Park.  One day, I downloaded every song by Pantera and Slayer in existence, just because I wanted to do it.

Technology for me had become an addiction, a hungry beast demanding to be fed. It was like all the years of technological neglect were suddenly demanding I make up for lost time. I couldn't stop.

I never embraced acronyms like “rofl” or substituting “you” for “u,” but I almost reached that stage until something bad happened: I gained a lot of weight.

This taught me the valuable lesson that there’s value in communicating in the old-fashioned way I always prefered. I still use these tools, but in great moderation. The internet is great, but it is so cold and impersonal. Emails do not have the charm of a hand-written letter and Instant Messaging cannot substitute a proper conversation. Standing face-to-face with someone and hearing their voice provides a comfort cyberspace simply cannot replicate.

Oh, remember that blog I told you about? I decided to start it again.