As college students, we need to be connected to our classes and workloads and keep track of our social lives and friends. But the amount of connectivity we have is almost too much.

Spring break was amazing. It was nice to get away from class and our lives that too often get overwhelming. But how many of us actually turned off our phones and did something different — something without technology?

Could we make it disconnected and live life by the day and not by the text or update?

It almost is ridiculous that we are being so conditioned to technology. Do we really need to be texting 24/7 or on Facebook a majority of the time?

With Facebook’s 620 million daily active users, there has to be a larger appeal than just sharing personal information. Although I do love seeing all of the identical pictures of the Red Cedar River from the Bogue Street bridge every season of the year on multiple sites.

With Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation and the vote for a new pope on March 12, the Vatican has taken measures to ensure the 115 electoral cardinals have no contact with the outside world. The small Vatican City is temporarily without Internet, cell service, TV, radio and print.

The quest for secrecy is extreme to ensure the cardinals’ votes are not influenced by outsiders. How many of us — besides you art majors out there — could make it days, possibly weeks, locked in the Sistine Chapel with no outside communication?

Just thinking about it makes me cringe and start to lose it a little. I wish I could make it, but where would my social life be after that?

We literally would fall off the face of the Earth by technological standards. How many of our Facebook “friends” would miss us if we stopped posting things and liking things?

I’m sure a few people actually would enjoy not having notifications from me pop up in their newsfeed. Honestly, don’t we all have that list of people from whom we either block or disable notifications?

I think back to when AIM was popular and how much time I used to spend chatting my friends in middle school late at night on my family’s Dell. We had “nothing better to do” back in the day.

But haven’t Facebook and Twitter become the same thing? We procrastinate studying and kill time between classes in anticipation and rush when someone retweets or likes our posts.

My parents wouldn’t let me get a Facebook for the longest time. My father even called it a “sewer” at one point in my struggles to convince them to let me make an account.

Sure, my family might be more on the conservative and stricter side, but I feel there was some weight to their reactions to the site at the time.

It makes me think of rock and roll and the social changes occurring in the 1940s and ‘50s. People were scared of what was going to happen, scared of losing what they were familiar with. They probably never would have imagined where the ‘60s would take them.

For our generation, social media has been the largest driving factor for change. Our lives are driven by updates and posts. I do not think society could adjust to a sudden change like the one the cardinals are experiencing in the Vatican.

As scary and boring as a life without technology sounds, it makes me excited to see where we will progress from here. We are the generation that has adapted to the social media revolution. The move to instantaneous technological communication has become the norm.

During break, I met a bunch of people from all across the country, even some international students. Just about every conversation ended in a “Find me on Facebook.” I think it is really cool that in one week I have expanded my “friend” circle significantly.

It’s unfortunate I probably never will see any of those people in person ever again. And it’s weird to think multiple conversations with strangers ended in that expression — I don’t know how I feel about going through with adding complete strangers from around the country. What if they are the type I want to disable? I guess it is just too easy either way.

It makes me wonder what social interactions will be like in 20 or 30 years.

Nick Bruewer is a guest columnist at The State News and a media and information sophomore. Reach him at bruewern@msu.edu.