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when technology fails.

my phone operator was experiencing some massive network problems for a good 2 days and nationwide, no one was able to text or receive them. Well, to be more precise, receive the text after 10 hours or something.

I was surprised at how annoyed I got at that. Not being able to receive/send texts was more than an incapability to convey a certain message. It almost felt like an entire relationship was melting down as a result of that; People might possibly misread the lack of texts for hostility.(since most of my friends here either have expensive call plans or are simply too much of an acquaintance to make calling a normal affair.)

I was even more surprised that i wasnt alone in my frustration. just check out virgin mobile usa's fb page. overnight, 16,000 people found themselves 'liking' the page and bombarding it with exclaims of anger, demands for compensation. (this admist a lot of "let's all be friends on fb, add me!" or " let's chat online now, im reallly bored" which was terribly amusing in light of the more serious threatening comments-- but well, this is america so i should have known). I was amazed at how much people craved to be constantly involved in some sort of activity that involved technology, as though without it, they lose friends and become the loneliest person on the planet.

it's almost as though this has become a universal truth:
people+ technology = friends. and people+ ? = people.

now that my phone is up and working, im happy. but nonetheless, this incident has certainly provided great food for thought.Not only with regards to my almost complete dependency on technology (and who says people are commitment phobic?:D) but also in my response to it all. how easy it was to feel irritation when 16,000 other people were doing the same, if not with worse cuss words. how easy it was to click open the fb page every 10 minutes to spy on people's comments just for the sake of it (honestly, i made a hobby out of it for the night, even though it was probably the greatest waste of time ever). how easy it was to start checking virgin mobile's twitter status more than i ever did since i first set up my account a year ago.

I think we all know that life is short, yet created with meaning by a meaningful creator. But too easily, i let myself forget that.

Someone wrote this on virgin mobile's wall a while ago and i couldnt help but post it here:
I think "Textgate 2010" is officially over. The human spirit was truly displayed here on this Facebook page these past few days. I just want to say it was a very beautiful feat overcoming this type of extreme adversity with all of you. U-S-A. U-S-A.

my first response was to laugh at the dramatics.

my second, an humbling awareness that I was part of all that chaos that im laughing at now.

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