By Jacob Peller, Staff Writer

Published Sep. 17, 2014

Technology is amazing, it has turned some of the most difficult challenges the human race has faced into mere trivialities.

The fact that I can send a message to someone across the world in mere seconds is nothing short of miraculous.

By all rights, the ability to stay in constant communication with anyone is great, right?

But let me ask you this: when you go outside, how many people have their eyes glued to phones?

Seriously, it seems like almost everyone is either listening to music or tapping away at their phones in order to pass the time.

Simply put, social media is theoretically a great way to stay connected with everyone.  Yet, at the same time we lose our own connection to the here and now.

Personally, I have never been one to use Facebook or Myspace.

I always thought that the act of constantly checking to see if someone wrote on your wall was comparable to an obsessive compulsive man who is constantly washing his hands, its respective nature wore me out the more I thought about it.

Of course, you can probably see the hypocrisy here.

I am fully aware that I’m writing about how much I hate something that I don’t even use.

So I’m preempting all of you who are going to condescendingly ask me, “if you don’t have any experience, why are you complaining about it?”

The short answer is that you’re right.

I don’t have the same fascination to social media that the majority of people seem to have.

But by being out of the loop, I have had a unique opportunity to look and experience how people react to those who aren’t in their social circles.

Here’s a trick that I bet everyone has done at least once in their life.

Say you’re walking down the street and you see someone you just despise; maybe it’s your roommate, or your ex walking with some new fling, or that guy that always stares at you in Calculus.

Since you don’t want to say hello or even make eye contact, you simply pull out your phone and pretend to text someone until you walk past them.

This idea of completely ignoring your surroundings is absolutely absurd and yet this is the exact reaction that I notice from everyone I see walking down the street.

People are so focused downward, that they are hardly aware of what is going on around them.

Desiree Pinol, a UNCG student, sums this up by explaining that “[Facebook] tends to distort reality, and distract us. It hurts our ability to communicate in person.”

People are so busy replying to a post about a cat or liking something about Kony, if he’s even still a thing, that we tend to lose touch with reality.

However, I can’t complain to much because this can result in hilarious videos of people running into lamp posts and potholes.

Comical pratfalls and a lack of special awareness are not the only downsides that social media sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter are causing.

Many users agree that it is very hard to stay away from their statuses and posts. “It’s on the edge of being addicting and entertaining” says Mablo Partin.

You see, the desire to being kept up to date on everyone’s business is a very tempting offer.

Another issue that needs to be brought to the public’s attention is that with the recent leak of images of various celebrities, I would like to remind you that when you put anything online, you essentially lose the right to revoke it.

With businesses today checking places like Facebook for images and any inappropriate conversation or material, you need to be extra careful with what you say or do on the internet. So the next time you post that picture of your summer break at Malibu, just be aware that it will be there forever.

I don’t think that social media sites are a complete waste of time, but they certainly have veered off from their intended use.

What was meant to be a way to connect to people you couldn’t meet easily or to create a group or event to raise awareness has become a vacuum of personal attention and awareness.

Maybe the next time you want to post about your crappy math teacher, you’ll think again.