Is technology hindering social interaction?
Those who are experiencing life in the twenty first century have seen a great deal of progress, including the invention of the Internet, personal computers and the ever-popular smart phone.
As intriguing and fascinating as these tools are, it is necessary to contemplate whether or not they are bringing people together or tearing the social dynamic apart. Growing up in eighties and early nineties was a lot different than growing up in the late nineties and two thousands. Back then, home phones were a necessary commodity and time was spent playing with friends outside, while polite in-person interaction with others was a cultural norm.
Life is much different now because social interaction has changed; technology that was meant to bring people together has distanced people from interacting with anyone outside of their My10, 600 Facebook friends, or followers on any other “social” networking site. It used to be that when the school or workday was over, it was time to interact with family and friends on a face-to-face level. Now it is difficult to leave the house without a smart phone or to leave work without constantly checking new emails.
Family dinners that used to be a daily or weekly routine have become full of dead conversation, with constant interruptions from incoming calls and text messages. The closeness of family ties in many cases is dwindling, and parents wanting to be involved in the lives of their children are having a hard time. While perhaps getting a hold of loved ones is easier in this tech-loving age, actually connecting with them is a different matter.
Staring down at a laptop, tablet or phone has seemingly robbed society of the more simplistic way of creating happiness. When was the last time you said “hello” to the person walking past you on the sidewalk, held a door open for someone, or thanked the bus driver who drove you to school? Some people still do this, but an awful lot of people in our technological generation have lost the ability to be courteous to those around them.
It’s time to appreciate life and the people and things that create it, and to stop acting like machines ourselves.
As humans we are innately social beings, but does having 600 friends on Facebook and making regular status updates make you social? How many people on these sites are close enough to really be called friends? Sure, social networking sites and online dating may make it supposedly easier to meet people, but when left as a main source of communication, we must ask ourselves how beneficial is the convenience of it all?
Now, it isn’t all that bad. The further people live away from their loved ones, the more lonesome they can become, and having an easy way of connecting “face-to-face” via webcams and cameras is better than the alternative of not seeing a loved one at all. It’s when daily interactions with those close to you are limited because of the distraction of being constantly “logged on.”
When the home phone was once the main source of communication, you would have to be present to receive a call, and if you weren’t home you could return the call when you found time. There wasn’t a pressure involving whether or not a text message was seen, or if the email was read because a response did not require immediate attention.
Our use and development of technology may have significantly altered our ability to progress as a society, but why has progress been looked at with so much admiration? Has this surplus of connectivity disconnected society? Hopefully we can catch ourselves before we fall too deeply into the arms of progress, so we can begin to make genuine connections with each other again.