HOW EXACTLY DOES COMMUNICATION EFFECT ME?

To some, communication has become an art form full of collectable electronics. Some strive to acquire the newest and more high tech electronics that are supposedly “made” for a better form of communication. For me, communication is a nuisance. I have no problem with writing a letter, or talking face-to-face, but it seems the forms of communication are evolving so rapidly that if I tried to keep up I would either go crazy or broke. It is a shame that we can not go back to the days in which people simply waited to see each other to talk or write on stone tablets like in the egyptian times (communication in history, pg 23-24) , but now it seems you can be in the same house, possibly even in the same room and instead of opening your mouth to talk, you text. Unfortunately, this has become the world we live in. Companies know that everyone wants the newest, coolest ways of simply saying hi. In fact, I have noticed that the new PC commercials are spotlighting children as young as 4 using their technology to upload images. Call me old fashioned, but I miss the days when I could go to a Kodak store without being told it is a waste of time. As a society, we look down on older forms of communication once something newer (although not necessarily better) comes along. Honestly, I would actually not have a problem with the new forms of communication if I was not being forced to use them.
It all started when I was in middle school and teachers said they “preferred” typed papers to hand written ones. Slowly but surely, by the time I reached high school, in order to keep myself from having to go to the library everyday to complete assignments, I had to have a computer and then having a computer was not good enough, I needed a laptop. Now there are internet assignments and classes that are partly and fully online that leave your major source of communication with the instructor to your computer. Then the evolution from the phone started. A teacher said parents should call to make a parent teacher appointment until once again slowly; the e-mail became basically the only way to contact almost anyone. And now I am being told to switch to texts? UMBC sends text messages about school closings/delays and other very important information that if you do not have a texting plan; your bill will run ridiculously high.
I have to say, as such a negative voice about this whole technology/communication craze I find myself becoming more and more connected to my phone and computer. I check my e-mail about 20 times a day (and that is not an exaggeration!) and even though I do not like to text people, I receive about 50 texts a day. I have always felt I was the one person who was not connected to their phone or any other form of communication until I went through my pictures this Christmas and it seemed in almost every picture of me, my phone was out and being used.After reaching this very sad realization, I have now started to accept the importance in these things because these are not only the major forms of communication but also the most important. (Heck I even bought myself a GPS system!) I started analyzing all the forms of communication I have to deal with daily and I have to say, thankfully, I still see people in my daily life. As a society, this is a point that is almost always over looked. I believe that we are losing the significance of simply sitting and talking and the passion that can rise from it because unfortunately these new forms of communication do not hold as much emotion as talking does. I am just curious to see what is next.