What about paper?

We can’t see the forest for the ipads

Last year, my forestry class went on a nature walk to see the trees we had been studying in lecture. As we stood in the forest, I noticed I was the only one looking at the tree while the rest of the students stared at the digital image of the tree on their tablets.

In my third year of university, I still don’t fully understand how to submit assignments online. What happened to handing in a paper? What happened to reading a book instead of staring at the pdf version until your head hurts?

A few years ago, an English professor told me “spelling is no longer important” because “we have autocorrect.”

We have become a generation dependant on technology. We can’t leave the house without our phones, we can’t walk around without listening to music, we can’t lie in bed at night without some form of technology in our hands.

We live in a disposable society where everything gets thrown away and nothing is meant to last. Technology has ruined romance for my generation. It has made it too easy to connect with strangers. Anyone with the app Tinder knows what I’m talking about. With hundreds of companions at your fingertips, why bother trying to romance only one? Why show up at someone’s door with flowers when you can FaceTime them instead? Why write handwritten letters when you can text? Why bother going on dates anyway? There’s an app for that.

We spend our lives submerged in a virtual reality. It’s become far too much — too much of everything: too much information, too much distraction, too much interference, too much pressure, too much. It’s time we did something about it. SAMARA REDWAY Delta