unplugged.

I finally broke down and got a smartphone this past week. It’s a funny feeling to have, with this droid phone, I’m able to get and reply to messages and emails pretty much instantly, wherever I am (except for sardine lake, apparently).

I’m still trying to get used to this new feeling of connectedness that I’m experiencing. I can not only go online to check emails and venture onto gchat, but find the nearest starbucks (or peets) play tetris while waiting in line, ID the song playing in the store through shazam, and have it downloaded with the click of a button all while they’re preparing my iced double expresso. Oh and the youtube music video is only a click away as well. I can tether it to my laptop and plop down in some random park and get work done (hehe yeah right…) or stream some tv shows from hulu. All this from a 5”x2.5” handful of perfectly amalgamated metal, glass, and google.

At the same time, I’m having a strange feeling of disconnect with reality. I haven’t had to remember a phone number since high school. If you were to ask me what my mom or dad’s cell phone numbers were…I wouldn’t be able to tell you, even though I talk to them all the time. It’s been at least 10 years since the last time someone hasn’t been able to reach me by cell and I don’t think I’ve gone through a single workday without being interrupted by a call or a text message. Those facts are a little troubling for me to digest.

I’m having trouble recollecting the last time I got a handwritten note. I’m having trouble recollecting the last time I used a land line. I’m having trouble recollecting the last time I looked at a paper map. I’m pretty sure I can live a 1992 lifestyle and still live pretty well, and yet, I have a strange desire to be connected 24/7 with the rest of society. This little dichotomy has me spinning in circles. How connected is too connected?