One day, I was walking in the park with a friend, and his cell phone rang, stopping our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day but I suddenly became absent from the conversation.
The telephone used to connect us to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that? With cell phones, we can chat with others anytime and anywhere without seeing them. With OQ and WeChat, I can just leave the answer on the phone if my mum has a question. By putting a card into the ATM, we can get money without talking to the clerk. We talk to the machine almost every minute and we learn about the world from the machine rather than people. As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets easier, we become lonelier.
I am not against modem technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, an email and a WeChat account. Giving them up isn't wise. They're a great help to us. It's some of their possible effects (影响) that make me feel uneasy.
It's high time to put ourselves on technology restriction: no instant messages with people who live near us; no cell phoning in the presence of friends; no letting WeChat pick up when we're at home.
