Social Life on the Internet: Is there such a thing?
[Click to see full-size. From http://www.zanetti.net.au]
I remember a canned tuna commercial I saw a few times on TV, they showed pictures of an abandoned console, an empty mall, and other abandoned stuff. Basically they were what we commonly perceive as things that kill society. They showed the people instead having fun at a huge park. While that’s not exactly what I have in mind with this post, I guess it’s a good illustration for my real point. But let me start with a question. By whose standards is going to the mall and playing games a bad thing, as opposed to running and having picnics in the park?
Before you react, please read on.
I actually really want to talk about the Internet. My work right now is very focused on the internet, and the moment I get home and into my room, I turn my laptop on and check my mail, my blog, my other emails, my friends’ blogs, some social networks, and when I’m done with that I start chatting with some people who are on Yahoo Messenger. Basically, I live a pretty internet-based life. And maybe you, reading this, are in the same situation.
Does that make me antisocial?
Social networks. As of now I’m in 4, but I’m only semi-active in one, because I’m usually lazy to do what the others are doing. It seems more like a highschool/college thing to do anyway. But it’s there, and when I check, I do sometimes find something worth noting — a friend’s birthday which otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered, a relevant announcement. Blogs. Only a handful of my friends actually tell me what’s going on in their lives anymore. They usually just post in their blogs, and expect me to read, and whenever I do catch them and ask how they’re doing, they usually say something like “Oh that? Well, it’s in my blog.”
Personally, I find no offense in that. I myself, evidently, am a blogger. Just when I thought that there couldn’t be anything more basic than the blog, Twitter came along. And the common sentiment from those in line with certain canned tuna commercial makers is simply, “What ever happened to human contact?”
On one hand, I agree. I grew up in a small town where you didn’t have to “set” playdates for kids, kids were the ones always itching to go out and play with the neighbors. There and then, we loved sitting on the rooftop, watching the stars, singing to tunes on the guitar (I sound so old), and yeah you get what I mean. Where I grew up everyone knew everyone, from the baker, the barber, the old lady around the corner. But since we moved from that place, things changed. I noticed it. I used to think that it was the place, but I realized it was the time. It just so happened that that particular place hadn’t caught up.
Information age, that’s what they call it. Everyone is using the internet, almost anything can be found on the internet, and the internet has replaced some basic social functions — there’s online dating, email, online games, chatrooms. There’s almost nothing left that can’t be “replaced” by something online. It’s inevitable that technology will continue to improve at an accelerating pace, and along with it, transactions and communications.
So in this highly automated world, there’s another way to look at these things that have replaced our normal interaction. The information age can’t be stopped, and everyone’s subconsciously aware of it. While some people view Twitter as suicide of the social being, in a way I see it sort of like the opposite. If Twitter had not come, I wouldn’t normally call or text other people what I’m doing at any point. So if anyone cares, if anyone wants to get this small semblance of a connection with me, they can check my Twitter. And what I don’t normally get to say in person, I get to express through my blog.
So I guess that image up there isn’t too appropriate, so consider it pure satire. Point is, with everything that’s going on in terms of technology, it seems like although physical human contact and presence is ideal, these things aren’t actually what kill the social web we so humans need so badly. To me, they actually seem like desperate attempts to hold on to it.
Technorati tags: blog, internet, network, antisocial, society, life, twitter