The Grand Finale

Firstly, I'd like to thank all the countless little people I had to step on in order to get to the place I am today. I have worked so hard and believe that I deserve the honor of being awarded a SUMMER VACATION AWARD granted by the University of Oklahoma...

As you can all see, I am absolutely, positively, indeniably - adverbs are fun - ready for summer vacation. Men and women of the blogosphere, I have sweat, cried, bled, and fought in order to get through my first year of college and it was not, I repeat, was NOT, pretty. Let me just say that if it wasn't for my family, friends, and computer, I would have probably died - seriously, straight up died - and not have been able to complete my first year. I would like to tell all of you readers that technology is a wonderful and powerful tool, but one of the things I struggled with the most this year, was putting it away when I needed to get focused. Many times my computer served as a gateway to many websites that kept me from being productive and on task. If you have faith in me, I will advise you to really set limitations on your relationships with your computer AND your phone, especially you iPhone users, and really try to study and do work without the aid of your trusty sidekicks - the funny thing about this last word, "sidekicks," is that there is a phone with the same name as well.. I love puns. Earlier this week I blogged about my day without technology and how difficult it was getting through the day due to the face that I decided to do it during a week the communication was crucial. I am not advising you all to just straight up go "cold-turkey" and completely remove technology from your life, but I am advising to really consider putting your technology aside for a few minutes or hours during times that you need to fully focus on your studies. If I could go back to my first semester this would be one of the first things I would do because when I usually worked on the the computer, I would usually take "5 minute" breaks on Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo!, and many other websites that were unnecessary. I just wanted to part some wisdom to all my readers and wanted to tell you all how technology affected my life this year and how I have learned through my mistakes.

Bye-Bye Technology!

:( <---- Ladies & Gentlemen, I am saddened to report that emoticons that are overly used in text messaging are crossing the threshold from informal text messages, to class work! Though "faces" like this sad one are acceptable in the countless messages being sent around the world, I am questioning myself as to how affective and "scholarly" it is to use it in one of my posts; I have good reason to use it too! The reason I am so sad and frustrated right now, is because I have tried going a day without technology. First, let me say this: NEVER AGAIN! Please don't think that I am some over-weight tech. junky who gets an adrenaline rush from hacking systems and vanquishing evil forces on computer games, because I'm not. The reason as to why I had such a difficult time not using my phone or computer is because even though I may be capable of putting my technology aside for a day, this does not mean the whole world is willing as well. We live in a world that is constantly wired and constantly trafficking numerous amounts of messages and information via the Internet and phones. Putting my computer and phone aside for a day endangers me of being clueless and uninformed about the news regarding my family, state, and country. I am making my life more difficult by restricting myself from receiving and replying to countless emails from professors and classmates and also in danger of being left behind in a world that is constantly moving forward. Though I do wish that we lived in a world that didn't rely so much on being connected and actually interacted face-to-face and wasn't always in a "fast-paced" mode, that wish will never come true. Technology has become so ingrained in our society that it is too late to turn back. Though it has many benefits, I feel people in today's society are forgetting the value that comes from doing things the old-fashioned way and though I hope to remember the past and never take it for granted, I need to also remember that I need to protect myself and make sure that I don't fall behind and am not left out of the "loop" because nothing good ever comes from it. So I pray that this heavy reliance on technology doesn't erase our humanity and make us a race of mindless minions controlled by computers. o_0 <--- (That's another face btw)

Good morning Starshine, the Earth says hello!

Great news you surfers in Cyberville, I didn’t die my first day back in class after what seemed like a year of not having school. You think I’m kidding about the whole year thing… I’m not [Juanito looks at his readers in an intimidating manner]. So now that I just had my jerk moment, let’s get down to the jist of the story. I know I was on my soap-box before saying how worried I was about not being prepared for class and probably on the verge of being murdered by my teachers for not keeping up-to-date with the class material, but c’mon, I’m an 18 year old in college.

Is this real life?

Anyway… my teachers were less prepared than I was! Not only did they have to adjust our syllabi, but they had to come up with methods on how to successfully teach us the class material with less time; poor, unfortunate souls. And amidst all this turmoil in my life, I can’t help but to be so thankful for my iPhone for not only keeping me connected with the outside world, but letting me drown myself in games, music, Facebook, and countless brain-killing websites designed to keep you from being productive. Without my phone I wouldn’t have had the privilege to answer my phone and hear President Boren say how saddened he was to have to tell me school was cancelled. I also wouldn’t have been able to see the snow coming my way and all the alerts The Weather Channel was issuing. My phone literally was the reason I was able to keep up-to-date with everything that was happening during the Snowpocalypse.

iParadise

The days have passed and I feel that sickening college routine starting to solidify itself in my life once again and as I recount the days during the Snowpocalypse, I can’t help but notice how dependent we - ME - are on our smartphones. In our world today, we have become so accustomed to having the world at our fingertips – literally – that we don’t take the time to really see how easier our lives our made by having these phones. I mean we were in the comfort of our rooms, our beds, and were able to receive calls from the university, were able to check the weather alerts, and were even capable of checking the school website without having to set foot outside. These phones have simplified our lives to the highest degree by being so efficient in every aspect of our lives. If I think about going through a day without having my iPhone at all, I feel like vomiting. This idea of being connected via smartphone to the world is so ingrained in us that we view this belief as the “norm” in our world today… and I don’t think it’s a bad belief seeing as how much we can do with this technology and how in many ways, it has made communicating with others, a bit more personal, even if we may be miles and miles apart.

Moral of the story

In my life, I can honestly say that this little phone has sure made life a heck of a lot easier. From being able to access the world-wide web, to being able to send countless messages via text and e-mail, my iPhones has really helped stay in sync - aren’t technology puns hilarious - with the world. The snow craze was a great example of showing how efficient and quick it is for one to access information regarding weather conditions and how easy it was to find out if school was cancelled. Even after the snow, teachers send us e-mail after e-mail that ends up in our jean-pocket or purse or bra or even underwear - yes, I know of people who keep their phones tucked away in their underwear. So as I finish ranting about my smartphone and how much of a benefit it really is, I want you to really think how life would be without these phones. It may seem like a silly question, but how easy would it be for us to access information in mere seconds?

 I love sounding so philosophical. It makes me believe my college education is actually going to come in handy…

sNOw!

First off, ya'll (yes, I'm from Oklahoma) should know that I am a freshman at the University of Oklahoma -- it's okay if you are jealous, it's normal -- and this last week I didn't go to class at all; chill mom I have an excuse. Oklahoma got hit with a snowball the size of the moon and since Oklahoma is not very quick to react when it comes to snow and ice and hail, the one and only, President David Boren, decided to make our lives a little bit more sunnier (irony, isn't it funny) and cancel class. I know what you're thinking, who wouldn't like that? But as the week went on I became a gopher cooped up in my room with a newfound addiction to junk-food and Jersey Shore; depressing, I know. So as much as this hurts me to say, I need school. Somewhere deep down inside I feel that thing called a conscience telling me I shouldn't be enjoying these snow days too much because I'm at college for one thing: to get an education. So hopefully as I start school next week I'm not too lost because that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you feel something is about to go horribly wrong, well I've had that feeling all week leading up to the first day of classes.. So wish me luck folks. I'm going to need it..