The University world looks a lot different than it did when I started college here almost four years ago. The only word I can use to adequately describe this change is “buzzing.”
Four years ago hardly anyone, at least in my classes, used computers to take notes. Sure there was the nerd with his tight T-shirt tucked into his stretchable jeans sitting off center on the front row – he used one. Even then, though, laptops were clunky, heavy things. If there were wireless networks in classrooms, my fellow classmates and I were oblivious to them.
I don’t remember seeing too many people using portable music devices around the Quad either. Students used cell phones, a common accessory, much more sparingly, especially around classes. The technology bug has bitten, however, and most of us are hooked.
In high school, we could go days without using the phone, but now Tuesday’s long classes have us sweating. We now find ourselves “texting” in class, discreetly placing our phones under desks. Our phones are set to “vibrate,” so if we have to miss a call, by God, we can at least see who it was. And sure enough, they immediately get a call back after class.
I now dream of bringing a laptop to class, ostensibly to take notes. I could “instant message” friends, check sports scores, stalk strangers on Facebook and even read the online edition of The Daily Reveille. I haven’t made the leap yet, but the old-fashioned pencil and paper folks seem to be dwindling in number. Computers, cell phones and MP3 players have become prerequisites for our generation, if not other generations.
My grandmother quipped this weekend that she has no business getting a computer because she doesn’t even know how to use a cell phone. If memory serves me correctly, she is only one of a handful of people whose electrical menagerie consists of a television, microwave, a rotary phone and a few lamps, but she seems happy enough. We’re entering the wireless age, and I see more and more wires.
We, the younger generation, have attached electronics to our identity and ourselves. We’ve made ourselves compatible, updateable, upgradeable and connectable. We’re now able to have relationships, friendly or sexual, without ever meeting the other person. We can be reached anywhere at any time. We shop without leaving our houses. We read the morning newspaper in newsgroups and e-mails. We bank, pay our bills and buy and sell stocks online. We can talk to ten different people while walking to class and never speaking a word.
Some might argue that society as we know it is fading into oblivion or being tucked away on a shelf next to Grandma’s dusty old gramophone. It could be true, or it could be just evolving. Life certainly feels more convenient. We are still making and breaking bonds just like before, this time in the comfort of our homes. We have more access to more information. We can chat with people thousands of miles away. Our news is up to the minute. Technology has certainly given us different kinds of headaches, but more importantly it has given us fresh ways to pass the time in class.
 
Lake is a history senior. Contact him
at [email protected]