Phonophobia and Technophobia

        Phonophobia is the fear of phones and technophobia is the fear of technology. I’m not really afraid of technology but it’s power is certainly alarming. Remember the days of the CD? I don’t. They’ve been annihilated by ipods and iphones. The time of letters and get togethers is almost gone with the creation of texting and Skype. Some don’t even talk to real people! Yeah, I’m talking about Siri, that female voice on some cell phones.
What’s really alarming are the answers when a teacher will ask what are the three things you personally could not live without. A few kid will say their cell phone in a joking way but I really believe they wouldn’t be able to. Humans are social creatures, so I’m pretty sure that if left alone on a n island without their social network devices, some would truly be unable to function.
Not only are some unable to function without technology but interact with other people. When some people meet for the first time, they might talk about the weather and other random things full of awkward pauses and silences. However, on facebook they’ll talk all day long about their pages and share crazy Christmas stories. People are also bolder when meeting for the first time online than in person. They might ask more personal questions thinking that they’ll never meet the other face to face so it doesn’t matter what they say.
Some even risk lives to be connected to technology. GPSs, radio control on steering wheels, phone answering, and all those other crazy gadgets in cars can be seriously distracting to a driver. Especially a driver in hazardous weather conditions. Even regular weather a driver can cause harm. I driving an a perfectly fine day, the light turned green, and I started to go forward, The other driver wasn’t moving due to a certain cell phone and I almost hit them. Of course I was in the wrong for going before they did but I had been on my phone and gone without looking up I would have caused a completely unnecessary accident. Another time I saw a lady obviously texting who completely missed the light. She just sat there as the light turned green, then yellow, and finally red. Cars are supposed to get a person from point A to point B as quickly as possible but while texting or talking on the cell phone it seems to almost defeat the purpose of a car.
Yes, I’m afraid of technology and how it’s changed our lives and culture.

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