A whole new world...

I was on a ridiculously long flight home to Chicago last week from Seattle when I engaged in a conversation with an employee from Yahoo! next to me. I had asked him, “If I have so much technology now, will my kids just be permanently plugged in?” To which he replied very matter of fact, “Yes.”

This has honestly been one of the most eye-opening classes I have taken here at Saint Mary’s… besides my Catholic Social Thought class of course :-) I was always aware of the fact that new media like blogs, cell phones, and social networking sites are slowing taking over our lives, but I never really came to terms with the fact that it is happening so fast! These things are consuming our lives like none other. Before I used to just brush off my, and others, use of new media forms. Now, I cannot get on Second Life without really considering how attached I am to my avatar. I can’t even get on Facebook without scrutinizing the identity I have put forth for all to see. Even cell phone use goes through my mind as more than just a daily activity. How did she answer her phone? What was her ring-tone? What kind of mobile does she own? It is all so much more fascinating to me.

I can honestly say I have really learned how to analyze and look at new media use in a way I never have before. I do not simply go through the motions any longer when it comes to blogging and walking along the beach as Trista Sands. Those activities are no longer ways to procrastinate writing that term paper that’s due in five hours. It’s a way to look at myself and who I am becoming.