When I was suffering from a long term illness I was cut off
from the world I knew. Social media allowed me to reconnect but it also gave me
the opportunity to pick and choose who, how and when I would interact, without
explanation. Gradually what was a tool used to stay connected became the
preferred method of communication as it acted as a veritable shield between me
and the world that ailed me.
I agree there has been a shift from technology
enhancing our real world to replacing our real world.
Rather than connecting
with family and friends, social media has become a place to monitor their
activities and pick and choose how involved we become. It has become a place to
hash out real world issues, often with strangers, because we're too afraid to
have these same conversations face to face in our communities, or we would
rather have them while conveniently remaining in our pyjamas.
Not only have we become
less connected with each other, but I believe also less tolerant. Sadly we seem
to view people who wish to have real conversations with us as rude for
interrupting us, especially if we have to alter what we're doing to hear them
out, or that they're invading our space and privacy, and we wonder how the
person missed that we're on our phone, we're busy. We miss the important
details in our environments because we're monitoring virtual ones. We miss the
opportunities to help someone in real life because we're sending a life to a
friend in Candy Crush.
Ms. Turkle gave her Connected, But Alone talk in 2012
and the technological world has charged on since then. But If you listen
closely you can hear the whispers of people wanting more out of their lives
then being constantly connected. They miss real connections, and they are
starting to take small steps to change things, simple steps like placing all
cell phones in the center of the table when they get together for lunch. There
is talk about mental health, and getting back to nature, talk about saving
energy, and the importance of disconnecting.
I believe the winds of change are coming.
Well stated, an overall dependence on technology has both its risks and rewards.
ReplyDeleteI feel the world is divided. On one hand you have the people that want to move away from technology again and get back to nature and physical connection with one another; disconnect from the world as a whole and stick closer to home so to speak.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, you have the people that want to advance technology even further; the "Iron Man" suits the military has developed to protect soldiers during combat, the robot waitresses and, more shockingly so, pleasure bots that have cropped up in Asian countries.
I feel that until humanity sees a technology related event that shocks us awake, we won't be getting away from technology as much as some would like just yet.