Plugged in or Plugged out?

Is this what your family looks like?

In “Is Being ‘Plugged In’ Changing Campus Life?” the authors discuss how technology effects the socialization of college students.  Just scrolling through the internet we all see it, people who are present in everything but mind. Many people are concerned about what being “plugged in” does to how we socialize. Families are sometimes jeopardized by the usage of personal entrainment devices (such as phones, laptops, etc.). Another concern is directed towards college students. One of the main elements to college is socialization with peers, however this socialization is becoming less and less. Students can often be found now in their respective rooms, their ears plugged up with headphones and their faces stuck in a T.V. show. As a college student myself I can tell you that this is true. I live in a building that has a very small number of residents (there are three floors, but only two of them are occupied) and I have yet to meet every person who lives here. Even at the mandatory floor meetings not everyone comes, some have never come once. To make matters worse my building requires that you fulfill a certain amount of community hours, so there is no lack of incentive. Many times these people aren’t even with their friends, they are just absorbed in what they happen to be doing at the moment. This behavior is not conducive to a community. Communities require us to interact with each other, a community will fall apart if its members are not unified and do not socialize. These are the vital building blocks to a community.