iPhone Addiction

Last week, my 15 year old daughter's iPod died. She was lost.

Mind you, she has a netbook, a cell phone and honestly, just about anything she needs but the death of her iPod sent her into a self-induced depressive state.

It made me feel old. Believe me, I am totally young at heart. As I sit here typing this blog post "Beavis and Butthead" is playing on Netflix and Emmi (the 15 year old) is half watching it and half focused on her brand new iPhone.

Daddy bought her an iPhone yesterday and I think it is permanently attached to her.

Technology is great for how it has opened up the world to all of us but sometimes it makes me sad how dependent some of us are upon it.

Emmi doesn't call her friends on the phone. They text.

She is dependent upon charging her devices or else she is lost. It has become a world where conversation has been replaced by texting or messaging or tweeting.

A while back one of my older daughters got invited to a wedding via Facebook. Really? No more fancy engraved invitations through the mail?

Oh yea, now the story is that the good old USPS may be extinct by next year.

My mom who is 75 years old has a Facebook page and sometimes cracks me up because she doesn't really understand how to use it. She hates how impersonal the world has become and doesn't like it when her grandchildren write on her wall instead of picking up the phone and calling her.

I can only imagine what it will be like when I am her age. Will we all be totally dependent upon our smart phones?

I have to admit that after Hurricane Irene when we were without power it was odd. I didn't miss television too much but I did miss Internet access. My husband has an iPhone and out of boredom I logged onto Facebook. Part of me felt ashamed that I couldn't live without updating my status.

I know if I had to I could make due without the constant connection to the Internet. My Emmi on the other hand would be lost. Her whole generation is growing up differently than her older siblings did.

It makes me wonder what her life will be like as an adult and what will become of them if something disrupts their Internet connection. Kind of scary to think about.

With everything being done online, more and more occupations will disappear. I wonder if they realize that. I wonder what their world will be like 20, 30 even 50 years from now.