I crave being connected. It’s not so much an addiction. Well, as an addiction can be defined:

The continued use of a mood altering substance or behaviour despite adverse consequences and/or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors.

I’ve lived long enough to know phones with cords, pagers and those early retrobrick type of cells. Technology like this is obsolete to the Facebook generation. We all know them. Head down glued to the handheld screen. Texting from the family dinner table. Tweeting during a movie to let your followers know that #iamseeingthisbeforeyou. Updating the Facebook at a red light to comment on your friends now ‘single’ status.

We know them, because we ARE them.

Last week, a situation occurred where my partner in crime, Stealthbot, had her smartphone submersed into a sink full of water. A phone with advanced computing abilities that can connect her to the social networks of choice. A device that takes point and shoot to the highest echelon of megapixel resolution and image quality. An instrument that had her vital day to day ‘living’ on it. But, one that was not waterproof. And in a swipe of a cats paw, it was all gone.

Nothing worked to revive it. Placing it in rice, rebooting. Nothing. Gone to the tethered world netherworld. ‘I feel like I lost a limb’ She commented.

I’ve had an Iphone for roughly five years now. My text and call dial up before this had served the purpose for staying in touch and how it fit into the routine my day to day. Some might say life changes as fast as the next Apple product launch and my headlong dive into the smartphone pool was a mechanized culture shock, at first. The learning curve wasn’t as steep as I thought it would be. It did take some time to acclimate to the touchscreen however all the basic right out of the box functionality had streamlined my essential habits. No longer did I have to figure out directions, or memorize a phone number or even dial a non-memorized number. My personal artificial intelligence could do that for me. She’s a gem.

I’m always connected now but am I really connecting? Has Facetime on my Iphone replaced face time with friends and family? As this tech increases, will it decrease my need to have fewer and fewer human relations? If you are not taught how to be alone, would you always be lonely?

I admit my attention is split and pulled into many different directions each and every day. I am ‘elsewhere’ as I balance my 9-5, father and family duties, blogging and writing commitments and music obligations. My phone helps me with keeping all the balls in the air. All the plates spinning on sticks.

At times, I would rather text than talk. I catch myself checking my phone, to see if I’ve missed anything- a call, an instant message or an @ mention. Losing touch with the reality of my real surroundings. I am here, but I’m not here, by virtue of my participation in parallel universes.

As the volume gets turned up on tech like this, the loudness gets increased. A loudness that makes it harder to actually hear one another.

I am anxious about the future of human relationships but cautious by the lightning pace of hi-tech changes. I feel optimistic by the prospect of self-discovery when faced with our technological future. Will I adapt, or change, or push back and at what cost will my own consciousness be raised.

-Dagobot