Is There an App for That?

Have you ever gotten an e-mail or text and been truly confused?  You think to yourself... "They aren't really that excited of a person normally.  What's with all of the exclamation marks and smiley faces?"  This person you thought you knew has now morphed into some strange version of themselves when they text you.  You may also wonder what they're trying to say.  With all of the abbreviations and capitalizations, it gets confusing.  It can also be confusing to know what someone truly means without the voice inflection and hand gestures.  Writing of today is nothing like the writing of years past...when it was an art.  Letters were written carefully and thoughtfully.  Every word had to be perfect so as to reflect what was meant.  I think our "writing" to one another has become elementary and often pointless.

I am that generation that started growing up before cell phones, but by the time I entered college, they were popular.  I remember using phone booths and having to walk to someone's house to make a call.  I also remember that fun did not revolve around video games and checking Facebook relentlessly.  I admit, I like social networking, but I often grow tired of the lack of connectedness. You get details about people's lives without making the effort to actually call them or plan to see them face to face.  It's seems like an excuse.  You don't need to call since you already know what's going on in their lives.  Instead of being social, we are really isolating ourselves.

I guess I miss the adventure that technology has conveniently taken away.  There were no Apps or quick texts to get someone to help you out when you had questions or were lost.  You had to figure it out, or you had to actually talk to a real person.  I realize that our hand held devices can get us out of a bad situation, but they can also get us into one.  It seems that we don't think for ourselves as much anymore.  We have Google for that. 

I sometimes wish I lived in a more innocent time-a time when you weren't afraid to let your kids go for a bike ride at dusk.  I don't think those times are ever coming back, though.  That makes me sad.  That means as a whole, the people of this world are getting more and more evil...there's no App for that.