With the help of technology and handy gadgets, the world of communication allows incredible access to information and people on any side of the planet. Smart phones, tablets, the Internet and email are nearly an extra limb to most of us even to a point that we can’t remember what it was like before this technology existed.

It is odd to think that it really wasn’t that long ago that none of this technology was around and to see how advanced it has become in such a short amount of time. I remember when my family got its first dial-up Internet connection, when we would start opening a web page, go to dinner and return to find the page wasn’t fully loaded. It was rather frustrating when you realized that you opened the wrong page after an hour of waiting, not to mention the bleeding in your ears from listening to the shrieking sound of a dial-up connection.

I had to think about what we used to do when we needed information and had no Internet, so I typed into Google, “what did I do before you were here?” Apparently we had to go to something called a library and find what is called a “book.”

All joking aside, the Internet is an amazing tool that made nearly any kind of information available within minutes. For example, who remembers having to take a map on a vacation rather than printing off directions off of MapQuest?

Of course we have to consider our precious cell phones. I imagine some of us would be more comfortable living in a dog house for the rest of our lives than living without a cell phone.

Cell phones are a blessing and a curse. It is convenient to have the ability to get a hold of anyone at any time, but it isn’t always great that everyone can get a hold of me any place and anytime.

I think I would have been in a lot less trouble in high school if cell phones weren’t around. There would have been a perfectly legitimate reason that my parents didn’t know exactly where I was rather than making an entire household of psychotic friends shut their mouths as I answered my phone.

I also wonder if families had a lot more to talk about when they got home before cell phones, before people reported a play-by-play synopsis of their daily life via text message or social networking site.

There is no need for in-car board games for the kids anymore ”” just toss a tablet or smart phone loaded with mind-numbing games in the back seat and watch them zone out as you drive peacefully down the road.

I like the fact that I can bust out a game of Angry Birds during some class lectures instead of trying to see shapes and figures in the texture on the walls.

I am amazed that such small items have created such a massive change in our daily lives. All of this technology increased the speed of life in some good ways, but in others I believe it created somewhat of a distraction.