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)