As a Communications major I have come to realize I’m in a relationship with technology. Aside for the fact that I actually love technology and it has become a HUGE part of my life, I have come to understand the ins and outs of this all too real relationship.
In 2010 I went to my first Awakening Fest. I’m not extremely religious, but I’m a huge fan of music. Skillet, my favorite Christian band, was the closer that night. I spent months waiting on this concert, which is kind of interesting if I think about it. I owned all the CD’s and quite a few of their songs were at the top of my most played on my beloved iPod touch. So then I have to reflect, why did this concert mean so much to me? It plays back to the idea that the “medium is the message.”
I was going through a rough time back then. My “best friends” were upset with me as I refused to pick one over the other and family life wasn’t the greatest. Actually it was far from it, possibly a living nightmare. There was a certain song that really stood out to me that night, The Last Night. I had listened to it many many times before. It was #1 on my iPod touch most played list. The words were memorized and I didn’t have to have the music to sing to it. As stated previously, Skillet was my favorite Christian band. The point being, before I start rambling, the live performance of The Last Night was able to reach out to me, much stronger than ANY other medium I had encountered previously. The “Medium WAS the Message” to me. I seemed to NEED the physical presence and the feeling as if Skillet was singing directly to me. I needed the medium to greater understand the message.
Again, I’ll prove just how much of a music fanatic I am. My music bases, such as iTunes, my YouTube searches, amazon music, and the music hub on my cell phone, are an extension of myself. I commonly say that I live and breathe music. I’ve been known to answer questions in lyrics. My music tells people a lot about me, especially my playlists. In particular, my most played list. Oh wait, have you heard that from me before? Indeed you have. The fact that “The Last Night” was at the top of my most played was an extension of myself at that current time. It was my way of explaining my emotions. My Facebook, yes I’m that gal STUCK on Facebook who is practically unwilling to change or add another social media for fear of yet another technological addiction, is filled with lyrics and links to YouTube versions of songs.
Facebook is my “global village.” I have friends from all over the world on my Facebook. As a girl scout, I have met people who have come over to the US for the summer in order to be a camp counselor. I have become very close to many of them. As a military brat, I have friends and family from all over the world. Facebook has become my hub. In a matter of seconds I can know what’s going on in a friend’s life, without ever having to pick up the phone or pay outrageous international calling fees. It’s as simple as logging onto the account on my many different devices. And WOLAH! There’s the information readily available to me!
The fact that I find a need for such things as Facebook or my iPod shows that I am a technological structuralist. My need to have such drives technological creators to continue to create and advance our technologies. If we as a society didn’t find a need for the advancements then the advancements would not exist. We’d come to a halt, but instead, it is a common consensus that these technologies improve our living and therefore drive us to continue advancing.
My life is soo technologically connected, it’s insane! I don’t think I would function quite the same without this relationship with technology!
