Your task for this assignment is to describe your thoughts on how technology influences social interaction. Do you think the spread of technology has had a positive or negative impact on your everyday face to face interaction? What about for people more generally? What do you think about using the Internet to meet other people (via online dating sites, Craigslist, message boards, fan sites, online gaming, or virtual worlds)? Is connecting to others via online communities a viable way of creating meaningful relationships, or are we neglecting our everyday relationships in favor of these "virtual" relationships? Do we, as a society, need to focus on creating more "real" spaces/public spheres for people to connect, interact, and discuss meaningful political and social issues?
I think technology has had a general negative impact on everyday interaction. With Facebook , many doors have opened for social awkwardness and unwanted attention. For example, the relationship status changes provide a large amount of awkwardness as it is publicly announced. Also if one has items which are only meant for friends on Facebook and has parents or relatives wanting to add them... what does one do? What would be the real reason to their parents/relatives for "rejecting" their friend request? Although it seems petty, it still calls for an awkward situation. Another extreme awkward example: if the Facebook user is a very religious person and a pastor or leader in the religious group that the user is in finds a very racy picture (drinking, partying, etc.) of the person... how should the pastor feel?
For me personally, I feel that communication through the internet has made me lazy. Video chatting and the ability to collaborate on tasks and projects through the internet sets aside the personal interaction that one would get when working with a team. I feel that personal interaction is key to success in collaborative efforts.
There are some positive aspects! For example, through the use of Youtube people have become well-known by the community that watches them. This has led to people with extraordinary talents becoming social celebrities.
Technology has created a whole new social culture also. Instead of phonebooks, we now have Facebook which we assume almost everyone we meet is on. Instead of calling each other, we send short text messages to send our messages. We can freely express our thoughts in short Tweets whenever we want for the world to read. Internet meems become the hot things that everyone must know about, not the latest fad or celebrity gossip (for example). Sexting and posting embarrassing videos of people has also become a huge issue which can essentially lead to extreme actions. (the Rutgers example we discussed in class also falls under this-- the victim committed suicide)
Using the internet to meet other people who share the same interests (such as car enthusiasts, video game lovers, etc.) is great! I do not think it should be used for dating though because of all the possible risks. While using the internet to meet people through these virtual communities is great, I personally think that we should have more personal interaction with someone physically there. If we all only communicated through the internet, we would be socially awkward when actually seeing each other in public. I feel that if more and more social interactions are placed online then there might be no reason to even see people in public. I really hope this doesn't happen!
I do strongly agree with the proposition that we, as a society, need to focus on creating more "real" spaces/public spheres for people to socialize with each other. When I think about it, there don't seem to be too many. I am sure there have been attempts to create some sort of place but none have been successful.
I agree with you. There is a certain extent to which the internet is positive, such as keeping in touch with friends or sharing your talents with others on youtube, like you said, however, I like being able to communicate face to face and I think that it is something very important that I hope never gets replaced by the internet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the things that you said. Sometimes I feel like communication today is so impersonal. Before, I used to get text messages or phone calls during my birthday. Now, most people just greet me via a wall post in Facebook. I don't know if I'm just being too sentimental, but there is something more special about receiving a greeting card or a phone call from a loved one. Also, there is no more element of surprise when we see an old friend. Facebook has made communication so much easier, but it has also made it less special and heartfelt. Also, I believe that all those status and picture updates has increased gossiping since everybody knows what's going on with everyone else. To avoid this, I've deactivated my Facebook account, but I feel like I've just cut myself off from my social circle. I was able to live without Facebook before, but why is it so hard to live without it now?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. Technology has definitely taken away the more personal side of how we communicate with each other. Even I am guilty of this, I'd rather text a friend than call them nowadays. I also find it hard to go a few hours without checking my Facebook and even check when I'm with friends. Although technology does make certain aspects of life easier, it does hinder our abilities to communicate with each other on a personal level.
ReplyDeleteAlthough technology has taken away a lot of the face-to-face communication we previously interacted with, I think the improvements with the ability to talk to people in different mediums such as facebook wall posts, messages, e-mails, text messages, phone calls, video chats, etc... has really expanded our ability to stay connected with people. Despite the negatives technology has brought, I think the positives out way those negatives immensely. I doubt any of us can imagine living with a landline instead of a telephone and not having any social network sites to communicate with our friends on. To avoid some of those negatives, for example the awkward facebook relationship status's, then dont put one up! hide it. no one needs to know all the details of your personal life displayed on facebook. If your going to find it awkward when you and your boyfriend/girlfriend break up then hide your relationship status to start with to save yourself some face later. We have a lot of control on the negative effects the internet and technology have on ourselves, its just a lot of us don't choose to do anything to fix it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the points you've made. It's strange to think about that possibly one day we may have virtually no face to face interaction at all. Though Facebook and Skype have made it incredibly easy to stay in touch with people when they are far apart, it also makes interacting with those you are close to just as easy. I have found that i rarely ever talk to anyone on the phone anymore, i simply chat with them via facebook, or even just. this is taking the intimacy out of relationships, which is sad. We are becoming so dependent on these mediums, and it is making phone calls and some face to face conversation arguably awkward. Its almost as though people feel more comfortable talking to people via facebook as opposed to face to face conversation. I also agree with the post just above mine that states that we have the power to chance this, most of us are just too comfortable with the way things are or even to lazy to do so. Unless we make a serious effort to revive the face to face interaction it will continue to dwindle.
ReplyDelete-Connor O'Rourke