In our world today, if you asked what citizens would consider changing if we lived in an ideal society, you would receive a wide range of answers. Completely utopian societies are unrealistic; however, changes in our society can be implemented to make it one step closer to an improved community setting. In our modern world, everyone is always looking down at some piece of technology, myself often included. The “smart phone” is the main piece of technology that has taken over our lives. It is technology that is a great advancement for inventors and engineers, yet it has made us as a human race much less connected.
The point of texting is to help you easily reach someone without having to dial their number and call them. Texting is brilliant, but it started a craze that has caused so many other kinds of mobile messaging. Now everyone relies on it completely. There are many more ways to get in touch and to see what is going on with whom. These extra additions to texting are what have made the obsession with smart phones grow even more; called “apps” (or applications.) On my phone alone, I have a folder for 7 different apps that pertain to social not including text messaging, that I need to organize. In addition to the social media apps there are games and other apps that really serve no purpose. When walking around a large city or even just Rollins College campus, the majority of the people I pass have their heads down; they are completely immersed in the text message they are sending or the Facebook status they are posting. I am not advocating to eliminate mobile phones or to downgrade them technology wise, but there should be a limit.
In a utopian society, we might have phones with high-grade technology and tons of apps, but we would manage them better. I am just as guilty as anyone; I love my phone and all of the apps and gizmos it has on it. I am highly aware of how much I rely on my phone too and that is kind of scary. If our society could just disconnect for a day, everyone would realize just how much we rely on a piece of overpriced technology. Human interaction is a necessity that we cannot live without; we need that social interaction, and many think that it counts when they communicate with someone through their phone. The perfect society would have limits to this, whether we eliminate other apps and stick to the occasional text message or we limit the overall time we spend looking down at this object. We need to set boundaries before we eradicate human interaction and basic communication all together.
As much as I love everything my phone has to offer, I know that I have an unhealthy attachment to it and I think society, as a whole, needs to change. A utopian society would be able to detox from technology and not have a problem with being detached from a device; and physical human interaction would not be such a rarity. Our society needs to interact face-to-face more often before social interactions become awkward due to unfamiliarity. Smart phones are a way of the future, but they also might come with a higher price than they are worth.
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