SAVANNAH MUL —Staff Writer
Cavemen carved on stone and left pictures of their adventures to show their stories in an attempt to communicate with others. Great-grandparents passed down folklores of love, fortune and misery to connect with younger generations.
Growing up, if anyone wanted to talk to family or friends, people would pick up the phone and call. In some cases, send letters. But somewhere in the midst of lost stories and missing love letters in the mail, came a changing society with the growth of technology.
In society, the formal communication is gone. The newest advancement in the iPhone, Siri, is an example of how far the society has come.
The marketing angle Apple took with Siri is “talk to Siri as you would a person.” In an episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” the character Rajesh Koothrappali (played by Kunal Nayyar) did just that. He had the iPhone with the Siri application; in the scene his character believed that Siri was a real person and was also his new love interest.
The user receives almost anything he or she will ask for. “Tell Bobby I’m running late.” A text message will be sent. “Where can I find good burritos?” Siri will scan the location you are in for the nearest restaurant. Don’t know where to go when you’re hanging out with your friends? No big deal, ask your new BFF Siri. Siri has all the ideas.
We have a robot “ruling” our society now. Yet, this isn’t the first time we’ve let technology rule us. Didn’t that day already come when you first decided to sign up for Facebook back in 2007, or even MySpace before that?
The constant urge to update, to stalk, to check in and broadcast insignificant events is what has been riding the younger generation. It’s easy to use and accessible, one major appeal, along with providing information that seems important at the time, when in the grand scheme of events it’s only miniscule.
I was a huge “Brady Bunch” fan when I was younger. My mother bought me the horrible movies that were released based off the TV show and I went crazy for them. I can’t even watch them today without laughing as to why I had such an infatuation with them—they were so bad.
There was one scene in “The Brady Bunch Movie” where Jan was jealous of Marcia. Marcia had constant beauty and Jan always wondered why she was the one stuck with the ugly hair and braces. Then, one night, the green monster of jealousy came out in Jan and she cut Marcia’s hair. Jan exhibited a quality many of us can relate to—jealousy. In society today, jealousy is disguised as the blue and white Facebook logo. If the logo were to be stripped down and torn apart, we’d see the green under coat come out. After all, the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, as portrayed in the film “The Social Network,” creates the basis of the site out of his jealousy and anger of an ex-girlfriend.
When signing on to Facebook, (A.K.A the green monster of envy) it’s easy to become jealous of a wall post seen, a poke war or question why your partner became friends with their ex again and are talking via wall posts—trouble, trouble.
To confront these issues, some people might broadcast how they feel though an inbox, text message or a wall post, rather than confront the issue face to face. I won’t be surprised if face-to-face communication to some people today means having a conversation using the FaceTime app through their iPhone.
Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer conversations in person and hugs. Any type of relationship is stronger when it isn’t based through a computer screen. What’s better than saying bye to someone and giving him or her a hug? I can’t give up hugs, and besides, hugging technology is a little weird.
