During
2008-2009 I was an exchange student at Puyallup High School, Washington. I was
sixteen years old. It was my first time away from home. I loved it. My parents
back home were generous enough to provide me with their credit card. Life was great. Until this one day would come
up. Through email I would set up Skype meetings with my parents. I knew what
they were going to say… As nearer the end of my stay approached, the longer the
periods between those meetings have gotten. Literally, I spent too much money
on unnecessary things. Hey, I was sixteen.
The
cell phone that I owned at this point in time had simple domestic texting and
calling features. It was rather complicated, in comparison to today, to get in
touch with my family and friends back home. Of course, there was myspace.com, which
neither my parents, nor my friends back home have ever heard of. The viable
solution to my problem was a prepaid long-distance phone-card, email, and
Skype. It was hard for my parents to get a hold of me. I was busy exploring the
world.
Six
years later. I get up in the morning. Look at my phone. There are 15 new
Whatsapp messages. Barriers of over 5,000 miles or 9 hours time difference
become insignificant. Communication around the globe is as easy as it has never
been before. VOIP calls enable internet-connected phones theoretically to
connect with any whom, anywhere, anytime, and at any place around the world
almost instantaneously. 
It is
nice to know what is going on around the world in real time, how your family and
friends are doing, or simply stream your soccer team on your phone. However, in
how far have we become reliant on our cell-phone? How much time do we actually
spend using it? Is it wasteful? For myself I can say that at some times I feel
overwhelmed with the interaction on my cell-phone on top of the challenges of
real everyday life. I can find myself being distracted by insignificant things,
like someone’s lunch they posted on Facebook or the like. I think back to the
times when I was totally focused on my 16 years old mind, without any such
distractions. As I said, life was great. This might be partially due to the
credit card, but I also enjoyed the freedom I had. Communication brings
responsibility. With how many people are you trying to stay in touch with? In
how far does this take time away from your experience in a new country? Which
do you prioritize? I think one has to find a healthy mean between these two in
order to evade the dependence on technology and feel free themselves.
