How many nights have you come home from work or school, sat down with your “device” (yes gamers, consoles count too!), and before you knew it, it was 2am and your eyes were burning from staring at the LCD for too long?
Be honest. We’ve all done this without even realizing it was happening. After which we’ve shamefully crawled into bed and secretly promised ourselves to never do it again…
…Only to repeat said behaviour over, and over, and over.
Technology, though amazing and beneficial to us in so many ways, can also rob us of the very things that make us human!
It connects us to each other quickly and divides us from each other even more quickly.
Here are 7 ways technology is robbing us of our humanity… and hopefully you don’t recognize all 7 things happening to you. (That means you’re already a techno-zombie and I WILL be forced to kill you)
1) Texting > Talking
Since when has it been okay to send someone a text when they are sitting right beside you?
Seriously??
We have become a society of text-obsessed non-communicators. I will never understand this phenomenon, nor do I condone it. I will always prefer face to face or even a phone conversation over receiving text messages. Even with people of whom I am not the biggest fan!
If this continues I can foresee us losing our gift of language, sending us back to our grunting and screeching Cro-magnon days.
(I don’t know about you, but I had quite enough of that in high school)
2) U is the 21st Letter Of The Alphabet… NOT A Word!
Let me be very clear on my issue here:
I am a firm believer that abbreviating for text messaging is a good thing. I read a study recently that suggested children who learn to abbreviate in messages at an early age actually are more advanced in their literacy than children who don’t.
However, I also read a paper by an English professor from an American University who had to fail over half of his class for using “u” instead of “you“, “r” instead of “are“, and the wrong versions of your/you’re, to/too/two and there/their/they’re.
For the love of Pete… on an ENGLISH paper?
#facepalm
I weep for your parents.
3) Don’t Believe Everything You Read Online
How often has someone asked you a question and you’ve immediately turned to Google to answer it for you? This is something I do almost daily.
Do I always check my sources? No. No, I don’t. This is how I fell for the “Jeff Goldblum is dead!” hoax.
For those of us guilty of this techno-sin…
4) Now! Now! Now!
Is it just me, or does anyone else notice their patience for mundane tasks is dwindling as Internet speeds get faster and faster, and devices become more and more powerful?
Every time I see “the spinning beach ball of death”, I want to gouge my eyes out with my pen (Mac users, you feel me?).
That means we are still spending time waiting, but sadly we are no longer programmed for patience. The faster our connections, the less patience we have.
Imagine a worldwide web outage…
I fear we would experience a global outbreak of mass genocide simply because people couldn’t get into their Instagram and post pictures of their lattes IMMEDIATELY.
5) Trolling – A New (and more cowardly) Form Of Abuse.
I cannot spend long on this topic, as it literally sickens me what some humans will do to each other for no reason other than entertainment.
In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum,chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3]often for their own amusement.
Source: Wikipedia
People who do this, had barely enough humanity before the Internet existed. Now? They can hide behind a screen, and do their damage faster.
This needs to be punishable by fine/jail time depending on its effects. End of story.
6) The Things We Miss
By having our faces constantly on our devices, we miss opportunities every single day.
We miss opportunities to see/hear/experience the beautiful things that happen unexpectedly and are so fleeting you could miss them if you blink.
Don’t miss a moment that could change your life because you were posting on Facebook about how bored you are.
Live, dammit!
7) Our Bodies Need Love Too!
We are constantly plugged in. We don’t realize sometimes that our bodies literally NEED a break from the light, the energy and the noises that come from our technology.
We need fresh air, movement, and silence. It’s refreshing… I promise.
I challenge you to unplug for a whole day… and remember why it is so amazing to be human. To be able to see, touch, taste, hear and smell the world around us.
Remember why we developed language.
Remember why it is better to sit and talk with your friends, than to text them.
You won’t regret it. Xo
With love, Rebecca
The Evolved Woman 
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