Week 6- Social Networking

Over the weekend, I got to spend some time with exchange students from all over the world. The biggest problem we ran into was that the majority of the students couldn't be pulled away from their computers to interact with each other "in person." One of the counselors asked, "Has it gotten to the point where we need to restrict computer time so that they get to experience reality?" The article seemed to go along perfectly with this experience. Teenagers are becoming dependent on technology to instant gratification through communication. The ironic part is that even though teenagers are never really on their own (cell phones, email, texting) they can be in a room full of people and not interact with one person face to face.
The author asserts that as teenagers continue to use instant communication, they are losing the ability to self-reflect. She also asks if "self expression is more important than social action?" It is a thought provoking question. Besides the annoyance of having students trying to text during class, I'm starting to realize that they are there, but not really there. Not only are they not learning, but they're not experiencing the moment. I guess it remains to be seen if this is good or not, but I'm starting to think like the author- social networking is changing the way we relate to each other.