OMG. IDK. Txts r def a prob srsly. Probs. Totes. Lmao. N libes w/ bff and obvi awk rando. 2 apt n 5 mins.

Forget French or HTML-text abbreviations are the language of the future.

E-mailing, texting, chatting, Twittering … each of these technologies uses the telepathic shorthand of text-speak to communicate thoughts without words.

College students today are the vanguard of change in human communication. Personalization of technology makes it easy to escape from personal interaction. It’s often more comfortable to send an e-mail to someone than to call. It’s easy to avoid greeting acquaintances on the sidewalk by looking at a cell phone or sticking in iPod earbuds. It’s possible to lose hours, even days, narcissistically building up a social network profile.

Spending too much time in an atomized world of personal preferences should be disconcerting. It can destroy a community.

It’s impossible to get away from technology. Blackberries, cell phones and high-speed Internet mean that anyone may be reached anywhere, anytime. Facebook’s mini-feed, once so horrifying to students, is now commonplace. Friendships can be managed like mutual funds, with the click of a mouse.

Technology makes us visible and invisible, seen and unseen, together and alone.

Yet, technology also has incredible potential to unify. President-elect Barack Obama sent personalized e-mails and phone calls to voters, and announced his choice of running mate via text message. Technology makes communication quick, easy and (with unlimited texting) relatively cheap.

Since Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, and probably before, technology has served both good and evil aims. It is a volatile commodity that can harm as much as help.

Set boundaries. Consider a quota for the number of texts and profile updates you make per day. Question how often you check your e-mail. What could you have been doing with that time?

We rely upon technology. The more we use it, the more we need it. We forget how to live any other way.

Technology makes it possible to totally cloister oneself, but impossible to be alone. It can be a tool for separation or for unity, depending on how we use it.

When it comes down to it, people don’t want to give technology up.

That’s OK; there’s no turning back now. College students still love and support technological innovation, but we must constantly note whether we’re using it, or letting it use us.

Watch out. Srsly. Ttyl.