By the Numbers

Today, I had the strangest epiphany. I have lost myself. Today, I looked at the reading assignments, and the homework assignments, and the writing assignments. And at the top of everything I turn into my TAs, that may or may not be seen by my professor, I write my student identification number. That nine digit code, consisting of an A followed by a random conglomeration of eight numbers, that is my identifier. And as I stared at this code, I realized that I am no more than a number to a lot of people.
Even as I type this and go to post it to the world, such as it is, I am still just a number. The 78th follower on Tumblr. The 452nd friend on Facebook. My fire and my opinions lose their potency as they are reduced to size 12 Arial font, homogenizing my thoughts and feelings with others’ announcements of what they had for lunch.
We can blame the digital age all we want for the lack of intimacy in our relationships. But what it gets right down to is people. The internet makes it easy and so we become lazy. Why drive all the way to a friend’s house to surprise them when you can just Skype? Why take long walks on trails through the woods, talking about anything and everything, when you can just Facebook chat? We are losing our ability to relate to each other through anything besides text abbreviations and emoticons.
Despite the slight hypocrisy of posting this almost anti-technology rant, I encourage you, if you actually read this far, to do your best to reconnect with the people you know on a face-to-face basis. Remind yourself who that person is every time you get a text from them, or a message. Remember what they look like, how they talk, their quirks and virtues. Reacquaint with the world through your own eyes, rather than a computer screen.
-Lucifer