Turning off your gadgets and spending some quality time with your loved ones may be the perfect gift this Valentine’s Day.

I think we are all guilty of spending more time playing video games, surfing the Web and instant messaging than actually spending time with friends, family and significant others. In a world filled with iPods, Xboxes and AIM, this is easy to do.

Although technological inventions such as e-mail and instant messaging have enabled us to communicate with people across the world without paying the ridiculously high prices per minute that phone companies charge, they can become a serious problem.

Constantly checking e-mail accounts, spending hours surfing the Web and being unable to feel at ease sans cell phone and/or PDA are worrisome signs of an impulse disorder that is possibly more socially harmful than addictions such as gambling and alcoholism. This “technology overload,” as coined by John O’Neill, the director of addictions services at the Menninger Clinic in Texas, can have a negative effect on relationships, as well as everyday interpersonal communication.

Day one of Kerri Mercer’s Interpersonal Communication class taught me that good communication is a key component of any healthy romantic relationship or friendship. Without it, emotions become bottled up and problems never get solved.

Unfortunately, the definition of interpersonal communication is veering further from the traditional face-to-face conversation. Take text messaging, for example. Sure, the ability to hide behind a screen makes conversation easier for some than being face-to-face. It allows more time to gather thoughts and form a better response. But, plain text doesn’t have tone or expressions. Plain text doesn’t show emotion.

One of my biggest concerns with this is how the individuals who spend all their time on the computer or some other gadget will function when they are forced to communicate in job interviews, presentations and meetings.

I am forever wondering how people expect to be employed if they can’t have a normal one-on-one conversation without a keyboard. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t convey it to anyone, it’s worth nothing.

How much social interaction do we purposely and successfully avoid with the help of technology? The silent rides on elevators and Wolfline buses, showing up early to class, and eating alone at the dining hall are all times when you’re secretly happy that you remembered to charge your iPod because you prefer listening to songs you’ve heard a million times to starting up a conversation with someone you’ve never met.

So, here’s your challenge: bring back the old-school communication. Save your iPod for your workout. Sit with someone new at lunch. Turn off your cell phone in class — you will learn more and show more respect for your professors by avoiding the urge to punch away text messages on the keypad. Make more dates with your boyfriend/girlfriend than you do with Halo or Facebook. Don’t fall into the “technology overload” trap.

Tell Jessie what you do instead of talking to people by e-mailing [email protected]