Everything you could ever want: with only one catch

Call it what you may, lack of funds, access, or caring, I have never been one at the "cutting edge" when it comes to... well... pretty much anything. I'm not fashionable, not genius, and not all that up-to-date with my newest versions of technology. It gives me a bit of a leg to stand on though when it comes to buyers remorse,  how can you regret a purchase that you have never made and growing up I have never wanted to be so enthralled with getting that I didn't appreciate what I already got. I do feel though at times disadvantaged.

Upon taking this class and suddenly being expected to be "in the loop", I felt somewhat overwhelmed. I don't even have a laptop that I can bring to class. Watching every other student's face glued intently to their screen, I felt that maybe I was missing out on something. Yet, on the other hand, we've lived thousands of years without computers, our personal electronic IVs into the vast stream of the internet world. After reading an interesting article about the pros and cons of the internet, I decided to create my own sort of list.

Pros of being in the loop of budding edge technology:

• Talking points: This is a personal one for me. I am engaged and my soon-to-be sister-in-law is a tech nerd. Whenever there is a family gathering she and my fiance spend their time discussing old Nintendo games, programming, and the latest news in technology. Over Christmas they had a lively discussion about SOPA, but since I was unenlightened on the topic I didn't have much to contribute. 
• Knowledge = power: Where there is knowledge there is greater opportunity. As a Public Health major I study about the health conditions in many developing countries and one of the biggest concerns is the lack of knowledge. Knowledge that we take for granted in the United States, like washing your hands with soap before you eat or prepare food, the importance of vaccines, and other issues can save thousands of lives world wide. And yet there are still hundreds of thousands of children dying worldwide because of cholera, measles, and many preventable diseases. With the advancement of technology there is also opportunity to quickly and widely disseminate knowledge and educate new populations.
• Interactive: It allows the world to become just a little smaller as you meet new people and stay in touch with the old ones. There's an iphone application that I use that allows me to text for free to my Korean friends and otherwise I might lose my friends (and my language ability). 
• Easy: It makes life so easy with supplmental apps and aids- google maps, astronomy, hanja study, weather, scheduling
• Makes money: its my job, makes jobs more efficient
• Enhances education

Dangers of getting entangled in the loop:

• Addiction: It's easy for anyone to access and without any real controls it is easy to spend hours with technology, to the detriment of other life obligations. 
• Loss of reality or social ability
• Security issues: loss of passwords, hacking, etc.
• What do you trust?: Anyone can post their opinions making some materials unreliable. How can you really tell what is or isn't valid?