Constant Connectivity

 Hi GIST, my name is Isabel and I'm a junior English major with a concentration in creative writing.

The iPhone also, as you can see, allows users to send extravagantly long text messages. I still send around 4,000 a month, and texting is my primary method of communication with everyone but my parents and professors. But is constant connectivity, the very feature of the iPhone that makes it indispensable, its primary drawback? What, exactly, is happening on Facebook between 10 AM when class starts and noon when we break for lunch that can't possibly wait? Nothing, and yet last week when I had a long meeting in a basement classroom without service, I immediately activated the wireless internet and got on Skype to maintain that connection. We've ceased to focus on where we are and what's happening at the dinner table or in the classroom, because we always have access to something more interesting somewhere else. 

A technology that I haven't had much experience with is video games. I never played them as a child (lack of hand-eye coordination) and I've never had much interest--but recently, I was challenged to an intense round of Mario Party 8 and quite enjoyed it.