I’ve heard this story way too many times: Two people meet online somehow. They exchange contact info, and they fall into a loop of talking to each other all day and night via texts, IMs, and/or phone calls. Maybe they end up meeting in real life, but the vast majority of their communication is virtual. They feel like they’ve really scratched the surface and gotten to know each other on a profound level. Naturally, there’s probably some sexting, maybe even declarations of love. There’s definitely some semblance of a bond there. Then, one person reveals they weren’t nearly as invested as they appeared to be. They have a significant other or they suddenly start becoming a vulgar Twitter flirt, or they just decide to fall off the face of the earth. And then the other person is left hurt, confused and disappointed.

I would never deny how wonderful technology is. It’s awesome that I can easily contact my friends 2000 miles away, that I can quickly shoot a text off to my boyfriend asking him to bring home gummy bears, that I can meet new friends via social media. It has truly enriched the world in a way that I could never properly express. That said, technology can also create a connection that feels deeper than it actually is. The thing about written words is you can attach meaning that isn’t there. It doesn’t help that our language is riddled with hyperbole. That chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is amazing. That new episode of Parks and Rec was phenomenal. My new skirt gives me life. Of course this hyperbole extends to the way we communicate with each other, and when you’re in that heady honeymoon period of crushing, you don’t realize that “I love you” doesn’t necessarily mean “I love you for all that you truly are” – it actually means something closer to “I love the idea of you that I’ve built up in my head because you’re more of a fantasy and not a real person with real person feelings.”

Technology can warp the way that we relate to each other. It lulls us into opening ourselves up far more quickly than we would in real life, creating an elevated sense of closeness, while conveniently allowing us to mask the worst parts of ourselves and gloss over our flaws.  At the same time, getting swept up in a relationship is more exciting than acknowledging that no one is nearly as perfect as they may try to present themselves. It’s important to approach online relationships with a healthy skepticism. If they flourish into something more substantial and real, that’s awesome. But at their core, they are superficial and barely scrape the surface.

Have you ever been in a virtual relationship? What do you think makes them easier than “real” relationships? Can they be successfully transitioned offline and into the real world?

[Lead image via Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock]

Yesterday, Adobe released an updated version of the favorite product of the internet age – Photoshop. They’ve unveiled the beta version of Photoshop CS6, which includes all the new features that will be available when Photoshop CS6 has its full release within the next few months. It’s full of new enhancements that will increase performance and help you create polished images that pop.

Photoshop is a great program for college students, whether you’re using it for class, to jazz up your resume or for making hilarious photos to put on the internet. Because let’s be honest, we all spend more time on the internet than we spend on homework. The best part of this news is that you can download the beta version of CS6 now! Adobe is looking for feedback on their new product, so download it here and tell them what you think on their forum.

Hold onto your glasses, geeks! The iPad 3 might get here sooner than we all thought. I have the iPad 2, and to be honest with you, I’m completely in love with it. I don’t go anywhere without it, and I can’t quite remember what I did before I had it in my little technology obsessed hands. When the iPad first came out, I was definitely a bit skeptical. Why would anyone need an oversized iPhone? Now I can’t imagine life without my oversized iPhone.

iPad has so many great features from its amazing display to its incredible battery life. It stays charged longer than my laptop does. Apps on the iPad make life easy with project management tools, iBooks, and magazines right at your fingertips. I’m a Mac in every aspect of my life, but even my PC friends can’t get enough of the iPad. In addition to being a great education and business device, it’s also fabulous in terms of entertainment whether you’re playing Angry Birds or watching Netflix. But that’s enough bragging on the iPad.

Rumors of the iPad 3 have been circulating like crazy around the interwebs, and Apple fans couldn’t be more excited. Although most of the rumors have been based on speculation, there are some recently leaked photos of the iPad 3. It appears to be a little bit thicker than the iPad 2 with a better rear camera. It will have more tapered edges, and is allegedly set to be released on March 7! Oh, and there might also be the release of a smaller, iPad Mini. Leave it to Mr. Steve Jobs to always have one more thing.

Do you have an iPad? Are you excited about the iPad 3? Would you invest in it?

Caitlin is a senior at the University of Alabama who has an obsession with cupcakes, coffee, andHarry Potter. She always has random fun facts on reserve and aspires to be a professional blogger,social media bug, and/or James Franco’s assistant. Follow her fabulous life @caitlincorsetti. You’re welcome!

It got me thinking about what I would do if it happened to me. Could I go all day without being in touch with anyone? Probably not. And I know it’s not just me. Us college kids are bombarded with constant communication so we freak out when we don’t have access to it. Hopefully, there won’t be anymore outages, but just in case I’ve rounded up some ways for you to communicate sans phone:

1. Post-It Notes: You can always leave a post-it on your friend’s car or outside their class to meet you for lunch. Granted, someone else could see it and meet you there too, but you’re without a phone so that’s a risk you’ll have to take.

2. Snail Mail: While it’s not the most efficient form of communication, handwritten letters are pretty awesome. I think you should write letters to people on a regular basis. Think about how excited you are when you get something in the real mail! However, don’t do this if there is a dire issue.

3. Smoke Signals: This can be dangerous since it involves fire, so be careful. Typically smoke signals are used to communicate long distance. So if you’re in a long distance relationship or have friends far away, this is perfect for you! Just make a fire and use a wet blanket to place over it which will create smoke. You can make different kinds of smoke puffs and everything!

4. Morse Code: First you’ll need to learn how to do morse code, and then you’ll have to teach all of your friends. You’ll also need a way to transmit the message like an electrical telegraph system. Or a flashlight, but that’s for nighttime communication. You can even do morse code by tapping with a pen on your desk for in class messaging.

5. Carrier Pigeons: You’ll obviously need to find a pigeon and then train it to become a carrier pigeon. They typically fly one way so your friend would keep your pigeon at their house and vice versa. If you think about it, this is kind of like Twitter because there are birds involved. And they can carry about 2.5 oz, so small packages could be transported too!

Communication is awesome, and we definitely need it in today’s society. The Blackberry outage can teach us something, though. Maybe we don’t need to be sleeping with our phones, taking them to the bathroom with us, or having them in our hands at all times. An email can wait a little while for a response. Text messages don’t need a reply at that very second. You need relationships with people, not your phone.

On October 4th, Apple made the huge announcement all technology geeks were waiting for — the iPhone 5…oh wait. Just as we were all anticipating the announcement of the iPhone 5, Apple laughed in our faces as they announced the iPhone 4s. As someone who loves her iPhone 4, I’m a little confused. Some of the new features the iPhone 4s supposedly offer don’t sound that exciting and — sorry to Apple — I don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze. Here are some of the features the iPhone 4s plans to offer.

1. It has an eight megapixel camera and can record videos in HD.
As a self-proclaimed party girl I love that my cellphone takes pictures, I never have to worry that I forgot my camera before homecoming, formal, an awesome toga party or any other event that I might want to take a picture at. I have at least 200 pictures on my phone at all times, I don’t know how many megapixels my camera is and I don’t care. My iPhone takes better pictures than my digital camera so whether it’s a six megapixel camera or an eight megapixel one doesn’t really matter, as long as it doesn’t crack when I drop it.

2. Siri
So the new iPhone offers this “personal assistant” named Siri that is voice activated. Allegedly, you can ask it to set your alarm, remind you of someone’s birthday, tell you what the weather is supposed to be like that day and other random things. While I do think this sounds cool, I don’t really understand the point. I mean, I already have a weather app on my phone and I can set my alarm myself. How incompetent does Apple think we are?

3. iPhone 4s is being offered on Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.
All the people complaining that Sprint doesn’t have the iPhone can shut up now, because as of October 14th Sprint will be selling the iPhone 4s. As far as I can tell this is the only new addition to the iPhone that is enough to make people buy it.

Because of the new product the iPhone 4 will be on sale for $99 (when I bought mine for almost $300 but whatever), and iPhone 3G will be free to AT&T customers. iPhone 4s will be $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for a 64 GB (who needs THAT much memory?!?) and they come in black and white. Personally, if you’re pining after the wonderful iPhone (as you should be) I would use this opportunity to save a few bucks and nab an iPhone 4 for $99 dollars. Do you really need your phone to set your alarm in the morning?

Think about it while you look at all these celebs who you just know will be upgrading to the 4s.

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Oh, you don't like my skirt? That makes me love you even more.

It’s a situation almost every college girl finds herself in. You’re sitting in your room, watching your news feed on the ‘Book. There’s a guy that you’re kind of interested in, but not enough to actively pursue him, when all of a sudden you see his name pop up. He’s commented on someone’s picture, so of course you click on it to read it. And the next thing you know, you’re poking around his profile, checking on his every move.

Oh! Turns out he’s going to a party on Friday that you also happen to be attending. Splendid.

You talk to him briefly at the party, both of you getting a little flirty. He’s not the smartest guy you’ve ever had witty banter with, but he’s OK. He could be worse. And then he walks away and you catch him chatting up someone else and – OMG – is she putting his hand on his back? Suddenly you’re upset.

Jealous.

You’re totally into him.

But don’t worry you’re not alone. (OK, you are alone standing there…but you’re not alone in feeling this way.) According to a new study titled, “He Loves me, He Loves Me Not… Uncertainty Can Increase Romantic Attraction,” women are more attracted to men when they can’t tell how much the men like them.

Yes, my dear friends, it’s not our fault! Uncertainty messes with our heads more than abs, dimples and the cute way he winks at you in class anything else. In the study, researchers from Virginia University and Harvard had a group of college women go onto Facebook and rate profiles of four men (which, to you, might sound like a regular Wednesday night). The catch – the women were told the guys had either expressed interest in their profile, thought they were average, or were unsure about them. The boys the women expressed the most interest in? The guys they were told weren’t sure about them.

Scary stuff, right?

And our good friend Mark Zuckerberg is only making it worse. We are now able to see who the guys we meet are talking to, whose photos they are commenting on and what events they are invited to. Whether or not we like it, we’re bombarded with this constant uncertainty, and it only makes us more interested. And potentially crazy.

The worst part of all of this? The fact that we can’t help it. It’s innate. Maybe it’s women’s constant desire to win people over, or maybe we’re more into the chase than researchers ever believed. Either way, we’re more attracted to the guy who ignores us than the guy who brings us flowers (or, more likely, buys us shots at the bar). Perhaps the best way to combat this is to form friend support groups and have our friends constantly remind us that we didn’t really like that guy to begin with. Either that or log off the computer and stop checking the social networking apps on our phones.

……

Yeah, friend support group it is.

What do you think of this study? Is it accurate? Any idea how to break the crazy cycle?

Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr have (sadly) become a drug to our generation (and to our parents, all of a sudden). While social media definitely has its perks, it also has many cons, and I’m not just talking about how easy it is for my entire family to become friends with me and comment on every one of my statuses.

Perks: It allows people to keep in touch with old (and new) acquaintances, post and view pictures, spread the word about events on campus, meet people, and express themselves.

Not-so-perks: It also allows people to share (um) personal things. Really personal things (really often) that just make people feel really uncomfortable and awkward.

So how do you know if you’re using it all right or oh so horribly wrong? Here are just a few signs that you overshare on social media:

We know by your tweets and statuses when you go to the restroom, shower, or don’t do any of the above. Personal hygiene is known as personal hygiene for a reason, and strangely enough, I don’t want to know when you’re hopping in the shower and curling your hair. And I really don’t know when you are feeling bloated; you don’t see me posting on your wall about how heavy my period may or may not be.

Posting class schedules is an invitation for creepers. My suite and I had what we called the “creeper wall” where we posted our schedules in our hall so we could all see when everyone was free or not. While seemingly creepy, that was really just efficient. Posting it online, however, is just scary. Do you really want everyone you’re friends with on Facebook to know where you are all. the. time? It is just asking for someone to stalk you. Creeeeeeepy.

Status arguments that exceed 40 comments are NOT okay. Oh, but they sure are entertaining. I would be lying if I said I am not thoroughly entertained by this person at night when I can’t sleep but nothing is on television or I’ve finished my book. I can always count on you, drama queen, for endless entertainment at 3 am. I keep wanting to delete you, but I just can’t bring myself to do it when your personal-life-gone-public is like a more entertaining episode of Gossip Girl.

Blogging about STDs, and not for educational purposes. True story, I have witnessed this. I understand an STD is an interesting topic to write about in order to either educate or give a first-person perspective on. In fact, people have written about worse, and it has the potential of answering a lot of anonymous viewer’s questions. But not when you are complaining about your week and off-handedly talk about how you went to the doctor and on top of everything discovered you have contracted an STD. TMI Tuesdays, I both love and loathe you.

Profile pictures that involve French kissing. There are no more words needed to say why this is disgusting. PDA is bad enough. Online PDA is disgusting.

We know your boyfriend/girlfriend’s pet name simply from your social media. If you call your partner your “widdle snuffaluffagus” we aren’t thinking “aw”, we’re laughing and playing that name over and over in our heads when we see them.

You make a Powerpoint rating guys you have slept with, including pictures and real names, then send them to all of your friends. I’m talking to you, Karen Owen.

Hint: I’m talking about some of the very same technology that we all freaked out about when it first came out.

Smartphone vs. Smartphone: Google entered the smartphone market when they launched their Android all the way back in January. But that didn’t scare Apple away from launching their new iPhone in June (though its reception favored left-handed talkers and called for ton of free “bumper” cases from Steve Jobs). Then came the Blackberry Torch in August and the Windows 7 phone in October. It seems that Smartphones are no longer a luxury item, but a necessity. You were cool if you had one in 2009, but if you don’t have one by 2011, you and your T9Word texting on that black-and-white screen better start saving up.

Foursquare: The schoolyard ballgame is now a new type of social media? Okay, so the “game” started back in 2009, but our favorite businesses and restaurants didn’t start playing until this year. And even though it’s pretty creepy to let complete strangers know where you are and where you’ve been and what you’re doing at any moment, it’s pretty awesome that you can “check in” for discounts. By the end of this holiday (shopping) season, I will be Mayor of my local mall…and my bank account be mayor of “broke.”

Apple’s iPad: It’s like an iPod Touch for giants! Hopefully, the fancy tablet will continue on its mission to revitalize the print magazine industry. As of now it’s changing the way we read books and surf the interwebs, and doing a great job pumping up gaming app sales. Have you played Doodle Jump on an iPad yet?!? If not, you don’t even know the definition of addiction.

Facebook Add-ons: We all thought it was weird when Zuckerberg announced the new version of Groups, and people freaked out about their privacy when Places launched. Most of us are still revolting against he new profile by refusing to get it, but soon, this year’s Facebook add-ons will become second nature with our daily scanning and stalking – just like last year’s additions did.

ChatRoulette: It’s hard to imagine a pre-party or post-party without it. What were we all doing with our lives before it became possible to video chat with random people around the world? And by “video chat” I mean “see random penises or people in freaky costumes.” But whatever. You can thank 2010 for that.

What has been your favorite tech update this year?

I am a complete technology addict.

Receiving a text message gives me a blissful, momentary high.  A day without access to the internet is a sad day.  If a couple of days go by and I haven’t signed onto Facebook (like that ever happens), I get antsy and feel out of the loop. This loathsome habit isn’t exactly an insightful revelation that came from deep soul searching or a problem unique to myself. Because, let’s be honest – you, dear reader, are probably just as addicted as I am.

I mean sure, anyone who’s seen a few episodes of Intervention knows there are far worse things to be addicted to and I’m not harming other people by logging onto Facebook five times every day.  I’m not even sure I am hurting myself.

What I do know is that our addiction can interfere with the quality of interpersonal interactions, focus in class, and other activities deserving of one’s undivided attention.

This is a day in my life:
I go to class and at least half of the people in attendance are not paying attention to the lecture.  They are either a) texting, b) shopping online, or c) on Facebook.
I go on a date and my date begins randomly texting somebody while pretending to listen to me at the same time. Annoying!
Even this past Thanksgiving my fourteen-year-old cousin was playing videogames on her iPhone at the dinner table.

It’s like everyone is perpetually bored and needs to use technology to alleviate themselves from their sorry state of boredom.

As finals and the holiday season are upon us, why not put in the effort to disengage and take a vacation from technology.  You might do better on your exams and can reconnect with yourself, your family and friends.  It would be hard to imagine going completely cold-turkey on technology (it was hard enough for one CollegeCandy writer to go cold-turkey on Facebook!), and after all, technology does have its merits, but with a few simple modifications, you might find the holiday season to be that much richer. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Host tech free gatherings. Invite the girls over for a movie night or old-school sleepover, but inform them ahead of time that cell phones are persona non grata. You can even offer a “tech check” where your BFFs can check their phones at the door and claim them once the night is over. Talk about bonding time!

2. Make exercise a time to connect with yourself and leave the distractions and stress of your every day behind. Create motivating playlists with your favorite music to keep you focused and pumped during your workouts, but leave gadgets that connect you to the outside world inside your locker. You’ll focus more on your workout and even give yourself some much needed time with your thoughts.

3. Implement a “tech curfew.” Let your friends and family know that at a certain time, you will not be available. Establish that time and turn off your technology. Without chimes and reminders that you have mail, a text message and constant Facebook updates that pull for a response, you will claim a lot of extra time for yourself and perhaps reconnect with something called relaxation.

4. Tech charge time. Leave the house willingly without any form of technology. At first you may be uncomfortable with how naked you feel as you re-experience everyday activities without your phone, but after the initial shock you will be surprised at how liberating it is to NOT be accessible.

With the holiday season approaching, it is the perfect time to reconnect with family and enjoy some time to ourselves. Our Digital Self needs a break too, so why don’t you and I turn off our BlackBerrys, Droids, and iPhones and tune into opportunities to be tech free-not all the time, but enough to feel a nice change.