Lights Flashing

I am the first to say that I love technology. I love being able to pick up my blackberry and look up movie times, directions to restaurants and mileage to where I am going. However, I continue to find myself completely robbed of my attention span due to this lovely web of connections. <br /> <br /> Between Facebook, twitter, BlogSpot, myspace, AIM, texting and all 3 of my email accounts, my connections to the World Wide Web have rendered me useless in the presence of others. This became apparent last Sunday night when I walked in the door to a friend's house to watch the Steelers kill the Jets. I hadn't even gotten around to greeting everyone there when I noticed the light on the top corner of my phone was blinking. Blinking red. This red blinking could be a sign for several things. It could mean a new voicemail, a new Facebook comment, a new friend request, a new text message, or a new email to my blog email, personal email or work email.<br /> <br /> Wham...I am physically at a party, trying to enjoy myself and not be rude, but mentally I am checked out. The blinking just won't stop. It taunts me, flashing there, like a silent siren alerting me of what better things are going on in other places where I am not, with people trying to reach me that I have not yet been able to reach. The little blinking red light could be holding the key to making the space between me and newer, more fabulous opportunities smaller.<br /> <br /> Are my social media interactions clogging up my actual social interactions?<br /> Trying to play it cool I slipped my phone in my back pocket and made a beeline for the bathroom.<br /> <br /> It was a text message.<br /> <br /> As I returned the text my phone started ringing. How lame am I in the toilet with my phone in hand. Paralyzed.<br /> <br /> Should I answer it? Should I send it to my voicemail and continue with the text I am sending. Should I discard both distractions and return to the folks I came to hang out with? What is a socially responsible twenty-something to do? <br /> Well, whatever it was I should have done, I failed by answering the phone and chatting in the bathroom while others who were involved in the actual "party" could start to gossip about me being on the phone...in the bathroom. And oh yeah, I heard the "Miss Popular" jokes, by the way.<br /> <br /> I finished up the phone call and the text. I headed back to watch the massacre that was the AFC Championship game. I felt bad, like I was being totally rude to the host and to the other friends I really came to see and catch up with.<br /> Hello, my name is Katie and I am addicted to being connected. I guess I am just wondering if there is anyone else who feels the same way.<br /> <br /> I love my Y2K generation, but what have we done to our so -called social lives? We have reduced them to cold texts of a few letters and Facebook pokes.<br /> Back in the 1930's and 40's, no one ducked in a bathroom at a cocktail party to return a text message and take a phone call. I bet that any gathering someone went to they were attentive to the hosts and other guests and never once broke conversation. Those days are long gone for this chick. I am on a need-to-know-right-now basis. It's my journalistic passion coming to haunt me.<br /> <br /> I can't say that the distractions won't continue to happen, but what I can say is that I will try to stop letting my little flashing red light stop me from enjoying the company I am in at that moment. <br /> Carpe Diem!<br /> <br /> <i>Katie Austin is a Buford, GA native and has been with Jacobs Media since 2006. She is involved in social media, news, and is the first person you meet when entering Jacobs Media Corporation. Katie reports from North Georgia's newsroom, is a staff writer for Accessnorthga.com and also fills in as an anchor on WDUN TV newscasts. Contact her at [email protected] or 770-531-6500.</i>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/2/235802