Allie Gregory's iWrite

          Three months before I was born, Google was launched. The next nine years brought with them other society-molding inventions such as Facebook when I was five, YouTube a year later, and in 2007 the first generation iPhone. Starting fifth grade, these four inventions were the staples of modern society – cool fifth graders (not me) lied about their age to be on Facebook and you were weird (me) if you didn’t browse YouTube in your free time. iPhones quickly took over and before we knew it, instagram and snapchat had become the primary forms of communication. These are things that, had I grown up 20 years earlier, never would have been on my radar. Everything would have been different. There would have been no Google for research or for looking up random curiosities. I would not have had a phone to text my mom everyday after school and find out where she was picking me up. Social interaction is another story. While I personally don’t partake in much social media anyway, and therefore that wouldn’t have been hugely different, I think that the fact social media exists at all affects the way we interact. Standards of social interaction as a whole have changed. The expectation at this point is that people would rather interact via technology than in person. It’s easier to be bold over text or over social media because there’s distance. Twenty years ago people didn’t have that to hide behind. I have friends now who will wait to resolve a fight when they can text because they don’t have the guts to say what needs said aloud. And in this, I think society has lost something. Don’t get me wrong; I love technology. Plenty of tech has made life easier and better for many. I love the internet, and I love the convenience of having a phone. To answer the question of which I prefer, the answer is now. Despite my dismay as far as our situation on the social front, I am rather fond of recent technological developments.