They have been taking stands on abortion, gay marriage, health care and foreign affairs, but they鈥檒l need to do more than just talk about them 鈥� they need to act.

With voter-registration tables scattered around campus, you would think more 麻豆原创 students would be encouraged to聽vote this year. But when I broach the subject with many of my classmates, co-workers and friends, their surprising answer to voting in this year鈥檚 election is a resounding 鈥渘o.鈥�

Some say neither candidate really appeals to them, while others say they didn鈥檛 know how to register or don鈥檛 want to go through the process.

Some simply said they don鈥檛 want to vote.

Don鈥檛 want to vote?!!?!

Even though students seem to be discussing the political spectrum in classes or in conversations through social media, a recent Gallup poll showed the intentions of college-age students to vote this year has decreased 9 percent since the 2004 presidential election.

Students don鈥檛 seem to realize how important their vote 鈥� their voice 鈥� is in this year鈥檚 presidential election, and it is disheartening because they can easily make a stand and be heard. When all that is required is a simple click of the button to post a political statement, it is disappointing that so many college students don鈥檛 register to vote or participate in the process.

My generation soon will provide the senators, governors and White House cabinet members that will create new laws and ultimately shape our country鈥檚 future.

But now we need a strong student participation to address the issues in this year鈥檚 election, as well as future elections. On the way to do this, students need to focus on being more aware of their surroundings.

They need to turn down the talking dogs on YouTube and the incessant tweets to better focus on issues that matter, such as the presidential candidates鈥� takes on various political issues that they are passionate about. Students also should be 鈥渋n the know鈥� about day-to-day news and take advantage of the free services that the 麻豆原创 campus has to offer them.

麻豆原创 provides a variety of resources for students to get involved, get registered and get informed about this year鈥檚 election 鈥� resources that many students seem to be taking for granted.

For example, the Student Government Association recently partnered with 麻豆原创鈥檚 Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government to create the TurboVote Initiative, a program that focuses on voter registration and is designed specifically for students.

The campus also has College Democrats and College Republicans to support students interested in learning more about national politics. In addition, 麻豆原创 offers registration tables at different areas around campus for those who have yet to register to vote, which is a quick process.

Registering to vote is an easy and simple process that takes just a few minutes, and voting on Election Day also can be quick if you know ahead of time how you鈥檙e going to cast your vote, avoid the crowded periods, and head to the polls prepared with identification in hand. Voting is even quicker if you vote by absentee ballot or take advantage of early voting.

A single voice can change the course of the future, and I wish more college students would recognize how important they are in this process.

If all it takes is one vote to shape our history, why wouldn鈥檛 you let your voice be heard?

麻豆原创 Forum columnist Alexandra Pittman is a 麻豆原创 junior majoring in creative writing and journalism, and can be reached at apittman@knights.ucf.edu.

Students have succumbed to relying on increasing technological developments, and without iPhone in hand, laptop at the ready and Kindle in the bag, some do not even know how to act in society.

Our culture has evolved into a bustling society of technology. Where once there was nothing more than ink and paper, the world today might not be able to exist without app-filled phones, a texting-based language and, most importantly, instantaneous access to new information.

With such inventions and innovations, we have created alternative means of communication and broken the boundaries that hindered making vast connections.

Fifty years ago it may have been days before breaking news in Chicago reached Paris. Today, it takes seconds. Through the use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Skype, people now can communicate with one another whenever, wherever.

Technology is a blessing 鈥� but it can also be a curse.

We live in an age of information overload. With the advent of new technologies on a continual basis, giving people access to more information at a faster rate than ever, society is reaching a point where there is just too much stuff to absorb.

With a simple motion on a touch screen, everyone has the opportunity to search and discover millions of books and billions of video files. Knowledge has never before been so easily accessible. Unfortunately, it is the kind of knowledge that most people are gravitating toward that is most concerning.

William Shakespeare and Jane Austen are left at the wayside as talking-dog YouTube videos and Draw Something competitions seem to dominate our culture. Online sitcom marathons have replaced reading a book, which sometimes consists of nothing more than scanning SparkNotes.

Because of texting, phone calls are becoming less common and only used for special circumstances. Text messages continue to get shorter every day, whether because we have begun to disregard the English language or grow in laziness, and abbreviations now constitute our day-to-day language.

Spellcheck for a paper or resume is no longer simply helpful, but requisite because spelling skills seem to be eroding.

Though it is both groundbreaking and breathtaking to have access to such multitudes of information, society is taking it for granted. Society is taking knowledge for granted.

Technological development has become a No. 1 priority, with millions of dollars fueled towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Arts and humanities have been left behind, and it is these disciplines that often find themselves face-to-face with budget cuts.

So how durable can our society be with a heavy dependence on all things technologically based?

If one day our world were to come crashing down around us, if our technology no longer worked for us, we would be reintroduced to an era of chaos. We would not even begin to understand a way to cope without instantaneous information and continually updating connections. Our networks and infrastructures would be destroyed instantly.

We must appreciate our past rather than just聽have a funneled outlook of our future.

True success in technological innovation cannot be achieved without accepting the responsibility that such power over information has granted us.

Students shouldn鈥檛 be constricted by their time. It is not an excuse to be ignorant and incapable of common speech, or to favor long acronyms and textspeak because society dictates it is popular.

After all, why seek an education if you鈥檙e going to become lost in an online world?

College is a time for discovery and exploration, where students should take advantage of the knowledge outside their door. They should strive to avoid the distractions and all the minutiae that technology has created.

Sometimes all that is needed to break these influences is to move away from the computer screen, hide the phone from our grasp, and expand our minds beyond this age of information overload.

In short, we need to remember how to learn.

麻豆原创 Forum columnist Alexandra Pittman is a 麻豆原创 junior majoring in creative writing and journalism, and can be reached at apittman@knights.ucf.edu.