Picture this: you are in a library studying for that huge English test you have on Monday. You turn to the left and you see a stylish 20-something-year-old female furiously typing away on her Smartphone. You turn to the right and there behold, another young adult bopping away to his music, grinning as he surfs the web. You finally turn to the old lady closest to you. You look over her shoulder and watch as she slowly updates her Facebook status.

The dusty books squeezed tightly together on the shelves seem to be ignored as everyone’s eyes are glued to their computer screens rather than to the thick, cream-colored pages of a book.

It seems that ever since social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr took off, they have taken over our lives. Sign off of chat, shutdown the computer, unplug the internet, and you feel alone and disconnected from the world. You only feel this way because the web has created an environment in which the only sense of connection with the people in your life is through liking their photos on Facebook or commenting on their latest statuses.

You feel this solitude when “unplugged” because your dependence on the web causes you to focus more on your cyberspace life rather than your actual one. Your days are consumed with reading blogs and watching impersonal Youtube videos.

Recently, I was on the BART heading to San Francisco to catch a movie with my aunt. While on the hour-long ride I was busy surfing the web on my phone. My aunt, sitting three inches away from me, enthusiastically told me about her day. I nodded and gave my input with “yes” and “no” reactions, trying to be intrigued with the conversation, but obviously preoccupied with the latest news on gossip sites and Facebook. After a good 20 minutes, the only sound I heard was the mere humming of the BART running on its tracks. I looked up and saw my aunt staring out the window. Shocked at how I was the perfect example of how the internet has caused people to waste their lives on trivial matters, I turned off my phone and began a conversation with my aunt. This casual conversation left me with a valuable lesson, something that I obviously would have never gained from browsing the internet.

Now, some may argue that this newfound reliance on the web is a convenience, bringing people together from all around the world. However, conversing with your friends and family through plastic keyboards and glossy computer screens will never replace the connection you get from conversations that take place in person. If you continue depending on the web for your daily interactions, you may soon lose that original experience of living life. Had I not turned off my phone on the BART, I would have missed out on an entertaining and deep conversation with the person I admire the most.
So, stop focusing on your cyberspace life with checking for unread messages, unreplied Facebook posts, or unblogged photos on Tumblr, and start expanding your actual one.