The advancements in technology have changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. These days’ individuals can relate to each other within twenty-four hours. My focus will be on my encounter with technology when I was in college. One evening, I walked straight to my hostel after revising for my exams in the university library. When I arrived at my hostel, people were quiet, and everyone had a phone in his hand. I immediately enquired what they were doing, and I realized that some were socializing via Twitter and Facebook. One of my friends was also watching music on YouTube while another one was busy analyzing which teams to bet for. At this moment, I was in a state of dilemma, and I had not decided on what to do. However, I was enticed by a friend who was betting after showing me the amount of money he had made the previous day.

I ended up falling in his trap without knowing the consequences of my actions. I took my smartphone from my jacket, and I started analyzing teams and placing my bets. Due to the excellent internet connectivity on campus, I decided to listen to YouTube music while betting. I decided to check the time after staying online for long hours and realized it was past two O’clock. This was the time when I decided to sleep. My decision was influenced by the fact that I had mathematics exams the next morning. The next day I overslept up to nine in the morning. Though, the exam paper was supposed to begin by precisely seven in the morning. When I woke up, I realized that the exam was almost over because the paper was supposed to take three hours. I found myself in a state of panic since I was completing my last papers in college before graduation. Unfortunately, no one was in the hostel except me. That was the time I realized that I was the only one who had missed to do my exams. Without wasting time, I decided to rush to the lecture room, and I arrived there after thirty minutes. The lecturer just gave me the question paper and sympathized with me. Even if he never talked to me, the body language showed that he was not happy with my actions. Moreover, the tutor thought that my actions were deliberate.

Besides, all the students who were in the room looked at me thus, making me panic. Before I could settle, the lecturer informed us that we were remaining with thirty minutes before the stopping time. I started shaking while sweating and I could not manage to write. Therefore, I just waited for the tutor to collect the papers because the remaining time was too little for me to complete the exam. I just decided to walk out before the documents were collected to avoid more frustrations. I also regretted why I was influenced by friends to take such a bad decision. I decided to go to my room to sleep, but I could not manage. It was because of the depression I was experiencing at that time. I kept on asking what to do, but it was too late. I was also afraid that my parents could not forgive me. It is because they had cleared all my school fees and I could not imagine that I could not graduate because of my fault.  Also, what disturbed me most is that I had invited most of my peers to attend my graduation ceremony. Therefore, explaining to them that I was not to graduate was a difficult task.

Afterward, I decided to look for all possible alternatives that could enable me to sit for the paper. It is the time when I decided to look for one of my trusted friends Mark to advise me on the matter. He told me to go to the head of the department and request him that I needed to do the exams again. However, my request was rejected when I visited the head of the department to inform him about the matter. He told me that I did not have justifiable reasons to be given another paper to do. Instead, they advised register for the exam in the next semester. This was one of my painful moments in life that I will live to remember. Eventually, I had to accept what had happened and move on. However, I was afraid of disclosing the information because of the shame associated with the missing of exams.

Since then, I learned that online distortions from the internet are dangerous and can harm an individual. I also developed a negative attitude towards social media platforms. I even swore never to repeat a similar mistake in the future. Besides, the measure also influenced me to be a strict timekeeper because I had misused my time which adversely ruined my life. Therefore, it is evident that the internet can waste your time.

Work Cited

Ethnography, Visual Visual. “Video Received.” Visual Ethnography 6.2 (2017).