Did you see that TFLN?
November 17, 2009
What do we use our cell phones for? Well, these days we can use them for browsing the web, checking our e-mails, listening to music, etc. So let’s revert back three years. What did we use them for back then? Two main things: making phone calls and sending text messages. When these two tasks were the sole reasons for our cell phones, this communication was so personal. Except for maybe the untrusting significant other, the only person to read your text message is the person to which it was sent.
However, in this changing world, society seems to be turning less personal. People are so interested in how others are living. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace grant instant access into others lives. Twitter makes you feel like everybody wants to know what you are doing at all times. And there are certain websites that permit you into the direct personal communications between two people, namely Texts From Last Night. Who doesn’t love to read about the sexual or drunken escapades of complete strangers from the night before?
While browsing this infatuating website one night, I came across an very fitting text:
(856): Ran into him today. He apologized via facebook. sometimes I hate our generation
Clearly this person is experiencing, and loathing, the transition into a less personal world. I mean, he couldn’t even apologize face to face! He must be a real keeper.
It is interesting to note that many members of the older generation view us, the millennials, as being sucked into our own worlds, being plugged in all the time to our iPods, computers, and all our various technologies. However, these same technologies and advances today are enabling us to expose more of our lives for everybody to see, in turn making our generation much less personal and individual.
So next time you think you are having a private conversation via text messages, just keep in mind that your message could go public. Congratulations. You’ve just become the next mass communicator. Maybe people will come up to you and ask the newly common question, “Did you see that text from last night?”
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1.
Dr. Morris | November 20, 2009 at 9:03 pm
What is society coming to?
2.
najahla | November 23, 2009 at 2:06 am
I am guilty of visiting the TFLN site on a regular basis!
3.
Dez | December 3, 2009 at 5:17 am
It’s funny that you even bring up Texts From Last Night. Until, I started taking this class, I thought I was one of the select few that actually knew of the site’s existence. Boy was I wrong. That’s what’s wrong with our society today. You feel like you’re 10 steps ahead of the other person when really you’re 50 steps behind. Way to feel defeated. Information goes ’round faster than celebrity gossip. Guess I’m out of the loop. *shrug*
4.
Rich | December 7, 2009 at 8:06 am
It’s definitely apparent that the youth of this generations are positioned between two opposite ends. The extremely secluded and personal world of technology: ipods, computers, cell-phones etc. that disconnects us from personal face-to-face interactions; and the strangely intimate world of mass media communication that brings us deeper into people’s “personal lives” (i.e facebook and TFLN). It will be interesting to see in fifty or so years the repercussions from living such a polar media life-style. Worst case scenario = we become glued to our computers screens, having everyone know our lives, without ever having to say a spoken word. Scary!
5.
Amy | December 7, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I am also guilty of visiting that site very frequently! I definitely agree with what you are saying, for I am also guilty of using texting to avoid awkward social situations.
6.
Allison Krezminski | December 7, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I think many people just think of the humor in sites like TFLN or facebook because they do not realize that sometimes these gateways of communication can actually be harmful. Not everyone has control of what others say about them or what pictures are posted online. Many see the humor or entertainment only until it backfires on them and they experience the negative aspects of these sites firsthand.
7.
Ashley Morgan | December 7, 2009 at 6:39 pm
As I began to study for finals I watched my technology use closely. It further developed my realization that I am utterly addicted to technology. It is very sad that we no long confront our issues in person but through text message and facebook.