Technology Overload

I have been thinking about this a lot lately....how does technology influence your life? Is it a positive or a negative or a little of both? I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes by e-mails, texting, social networks, blogging and everything that comes with it. Because of technology we are accessible to our family, friends, and world wide web acquaintances literally 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Is that healthy? Does that leave us with any time for our life outside of technology? Don't we need at least the commute home to unwind, shut out the world, and quiet our minds?

And in addition to being completely accessible to everyone, how do we handle "tech rejection"? You know what I'm talking about - someone deletes you from a social network, someone you send a text or e-mail to doesn't respond, and a person you know that has their phone with them all the time doesn't answer your call. This is a new form of rejection and I had a difficult enough time dealing with rejection in real life and now I have to deal with this? How do you respond to this new type of rejection? Is there a "Living Your Life Through Technology For Dummies".

Technology allows people to be more candid and ruthless than they might otherwise be in person. People feel less inhibited with their words and I think because the person isn't standing in front of you its easier to be brutally honest and forget that the words on the screen are creating an emotional reaction. Social networks are rampant with teenage angst and bullying and this goes for adults too.....people put themselves out there and sometimes the reactions aren't kind.

I do feel like technology has helped me stay connected to people that I might not otherwise hear from unless it was through the mail or over the phone and for that I am thankful. But on the negative side I have to wonder if I have made myself too accessible to others? Have I enabled others to affect me in a negative way because they have deleted me from a social network site, or never answer my texts/e-mails/phone calls? Have I revealed too much about my life, my family, my dysfunctions and put more judgement on myself or my family?

Are you on technology overload? In our efforts to simplify our lives can we live without technology? And if so, how do we manage these types of relationships if they can disappear as quickly as you hit the delete button?