Chapter 3

How have smart phones and websites like Facebook (material culture) changed

the way we interact (nonmaterial culture, norms, and values) and communicate? How does frequent “texting” and less talking affect the nature of our relationships, both positively and negatively?

I think smart phones and Facebook are convenient. Smart phones help you to get internet access almost anywhere you go, you will never get bored with you smart phone because there are so much apps and games to play. Facebook allows you to make more friends and at the same time it allows you to know what your friends are doing. But I've always wonder do this kind of technologies help to bring us closer or farther apart? I used to work in restaurant last year and I noticed most of the customers had a smart phone and they were playing their smart phones in the restaurant. They barely talked to their friends who were sitting next to them. I think they were having fun with their phones not with their friends. I have two cousins, they are sister and brother who live together and their rooms are right next to each other. So one day the sister went out and check-in at a place, then her brother commented something like “wow, I thought you are home! You just got out?” The sister replied “I had been out since the morning.” I think smart phones and Facebook have some positive impacts on us, but they affect us more negatively. That's why I still use my “stupid” phone instead of smart phone.