Last Tuesday I spilled milk all over my laptop. I immediately cut the power, unplugged everything and took out all the drives I knew of. An hour later, after sopping up as much liquid as possible and borrowing a friend’s blow-dryer, I tried to turn it on again – to no avail.

I’ve been laptop-less for more than a week now, and I feel like I’ve lost a limb. I had no idea I was so reliant on my computer until I didn’t have one anymore. Now whenever I go anywhere new, I have to unfold an actual paper map instead of pulling up Google Maps and typing in the address. To check my e-mail I have to walk to a friend’s place or use one of the computer labs on campus. To write this article, I had to trek over to the library.

I understand why you might be rolling your eyes at me, but I swear I’m not just crying over spilled milk. My world here at Northwestern is entirely dependent on my computer. I imagine yours is, too. I realize this fact isn’t exactly revelatory or groundbreaking, but I’ve been stuck on it for the past week, for obvious reasons. It’s got me wondering whether this dependence is a good or bad thing.

I read an article online (back in the good old days, when I had easy access to the Internet) by a British sociologist ridiculing our generation for our so-called obsession with technology. In the piece, he predicted that as a result of our chatroom-infested childhood and our iPod-covered ears, we’ll turn out to be antisocial and angry. For him, technology is a force of social isolation, marooning us on self-created islands with our Powerbooks and our cell phones, unable and unwilling to interact with others. In this frame of mind, the loss of my laptop is a good thing, forcing me to interact with people face to face instead of indirectly, over the wires.

I couldn’t disagree more with this notion. I use technology primarily to stay in touch with friends and family and to meet new people. There is no way I’d communicate with my parents as much as I do without e-mail. I wouldn’t see friends here at NU nearly as much as I do without text messaging.

Technology has allowed me to maintain many more quality, face-to-face relationships than I would have been able to without it. Not having access to a laptop has been hard because I’m cut off from so many people who are important in my life.

Luckily for me, my parents, in all their wisdom, paid for “stupidity insurance” when I bought the computer. I should have a new one within two weeks’ time. Until then, you’ll find me at the library or that computer lab in the basement of Kresge, obsessively writing e-mail and, er, updating my Facebook.com profile.4

Weinberg and Music senior Nick Anderman is a PLAY pop culture columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].