"Uh oh!" At the familiar
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Ever since coming to college, ICQ and email have become my primary methods of keeping in contact with, leaving messages for, and having discussions with my friends. When I meet a person, the first means for establishing future contact is no longer "What is your phone number?" but rather, "What is your email address?" which is closely followed by "Do you have ICQ?" Electronic communication media are not only convenient, but they are economical and allow instantaneous contact. If I initiate an ICQ Chat with one of my friends
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Information technology has boomed in the last ten years or so. We seem to have landed in the middle of a completely networked world without quite knowing how we got there. Distance no longer inhibits communication, and we have become a world that is better connected.
Or have we? My freshman year college roommate spent his entire freshman year ICQ-ing IM-ing , and surfing the web. Even when we were sitting in the same room, he always opted to initiate conversation with me through ICQ rather than simply speaking to me directly. Another one of my web-friendly friends, Jeff, spent his sophomore year in college playing an online role-playing computer game almost continuously. When he was not playing the game
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Although few of us become that enthralled with the Internet, we cannot help but admit that it captures our attention with a scary tenacity. An hour can pass by seemingly in the blink of an eye as we respond to email or surf the web. The very technology that expands our access to the world has helped us also to shrink into isolation. Why walk outside when you can experience a virtual 3D world in the comfort of your room with a friend from the electronic chat-room? Why visit the person two floors down
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The world of film certainly isn't troubled; in fact, it encourages us to seek companionship through the Internet. In the romantic comedy "You've Got Mail," Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan
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In being able to buy clothes, groceries, electronics
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We accept and embrace the isolation technology has brought us, but our interpersonal communication skills are suffering depressing consequences, as the need for personal contact decreases. As more and more hackers spend time in front of the computer, the image of the dorky nerd who can program with his hands tied behind his back and his eyes blindfolded, but cannot carry on a normal conversation has also become more prominent. Before I began to receive his 15K emails
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