Antsy Addicts

In the wise words of Bobby Dylan himself,

“Sometimes you say things in songs even if there's a small chance of them being true. And sometimes you say things that have nothing to do with the truth of what you want to say and sometimes you say things that everyone knows to be true. Then again, at the same time, you're thinking that the only truth on earth is that there is no truth on it. Whatever you are saying, you're saying in a ricky-tick way. There's never time to reflect. You stitched and pressed and packed and drove, is what you did. It's peculiar and unnerving in a way to see so many young people walking around with cell phones and iPod's in their ears and so wrapped up in media and video games. It robs them of their self-identity. It's a shame to see them so tuned out to real life. Of course they are free to do that, as if that's got anything to do with freedom. The cost of liberty is high, and young people should understand that before they start spending their life with all those gadgets." 

I'm so freaking guilty.

Once upon a time, back in my college days,  I mistakenly forgot my trusty Blackberry on my walk to class from my residence. My first initial thought was 'How in the world will I make it today (4 hours) without tweeting/status creeping/texting/calling all these important people, that I truly know nothing about.' On the flip side of this, I was able to gaze at my fellow student body parading back and forth to their classes, heads down, in a trance with their newest form of technology. It was literally like a sea full of zombies. Nobody was interacting or communicating; except with their fingers and thumbs clicking away or their headphones on, zoned out to the world. I was appalled. Is this what I look like when I’m sending an important text that can’t wait? Or having a conversation that’s so much more important then saying a quick 'Hey' to a teammate on my way to class? 

We've become not just attached to our social media, but dependent on it. With what’s going on and what people are saying about others. From our apps on our brand new Iphones that have the potential to light a candle for us, we’ve become victims of an electronic world. We are our own apps, updating ourselves to the newer and the better. 


It was the famous Steve Jobs that assisted in the creation of Apple technology. I wish I could have conducted an interview with him to ask him if this is what he expected of our culture. This craze that has turned into a dependency. Or was it just a constructive idea to help with the development, the post modern term ‘making it new.’ Are we still making it ‘new’ or are we making it unreal. 

I forgot what it felt like to sit by a campfire, listening to a friend strum the guitar and sing a familiar tune. 
I forgot what it felt like to have a sit down lunch with an old group of friends the other week, and leave my phone in the car.
I forgot what it felt like to reflect, be by myself, and leave my functions, schedule, and responsibilities to themselves in my square little white box of electronic capacity.

It felt so freaking awesome.

“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.”- CNN Money