Robots are taking over the planet.

In an increasingly space-agey, technology-oriented world where everyone can have a voice as long as they’re armed with a Wi-Fi connection, social media has rocket launched in the human obsession department.

How many times a day do you log into your Facebook account? How many conversations do you have with acquaintances based around what you saw they updated online? How many times do you creep on an ex/family member/friend, instead of initiating a conversation with them to see how they’ve been? How often does social media sneak into your thoughts? Are you constantly thinking about your next status update, or the pictures you’ll be uploading after your trip?

These are all sure fire signs of a mass worldwide epidemic of a new kind of addiction.

Blame it on our lingering primal instincts for craving social interaction with other beings. Wi-Fi has extended across all corners, nooks and crannies of the world. One can be traversing across the jungle in Costa Rica or heading up to base camp on Everest and still be able to find Wi-Fi. Where has the sense of solitude and remoteness disappeared to? People are desperately embracing the shift toward complete dominance of online communication, in order to fulfill their desire to never be alone with themselves.

Gone are the days where people would call or visit when they wished to catch up with someone.

Gone are the days of privacy. People now openly display their entire lives on a neatly laid out format for others to view as they please.

Gone are the days when people would hold mysterious auras; be a puzzle to be figured out, an enigma that needs decoding. Now Google and Facebook can unravel the mystery you wish to discover about someone—all at the comfort of your own desk.

Gone is the art of face-to-face human interaction. What came easily and natural before is slowly being eradicated in place of online conversations, status updates and profile stalker binges. Most people have forgotten the simple act of how to look into another human’s eyes.

These are the days of shallow relationships and digital communications, more online friends than real substantial ones, surfing the internet rather than going out into the world to explore, and blind courage at exposing your soul at the click of a button.

I may sound like an old fogey that needs her Depends changed, but am I the only one who thinks that technology is dominating us, rather than the other way around?

Now get off your butt and get out there!

Veronica Ryl is an extremist who thinks in color. She is a winding road, a half finished book, a candle waiting to be lit… Her passions entail poetic art, experimenting with yoga, exploring the universe and dabbling in emergency medicine. She can be found making her attempt at a working class life in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Editor: Sarah Winner

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