We live in a world which is radically different from those of our parents. The vehicle of this change is not so much the change in values but the technology that has enabled a more connected world and hence the diversity and volume of information has caused the change in values (I do not use the word “warped” simply because it is emotive in nature).
Today we are all more connected than ever before, but has this come at the expense of our ability to socialize on a face-to-face basis? Through a myriad of enablers such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc….we are hooked up to the global community and the physical barrier of distance is being slowly overcome. However, the question really is…has all this online socializing helped us to become better social animals? My sense is that the jury is very much out on that.
The ability to build a strong relationship online does not necessarily translate into being able to build strong and lasting relationships offline. I have met some so called online “Community Leaders” who have been socially dysfunctional, not being able to hold a conversation or familiar with the basic social niceties (yes, people still do shake hands when they meet for the first time). There have been times when I appear to be having a conversation with a Twitter account…short simple sentences of not more than 140 characters.
I heard from a sociologist that socializing is a learned behaviour. Therefore our ability to socialize is a function of how much interaction we have. If this is predominantly through the internet then the tradeoff is our ability to socialize offline. There is a fear that the next generation will consist of a lot of “shy” adults who lack the skills to build rapport or even build long term relationships (get married for instance).
The flip side of this argument is that there may no longer be the need to develop these skills as most of our interactions may be even more tightly integrated online and therefore we are only holding back the inevitable by continuing in our current mode of operation such as having people come together in one location for work.
Whatever the truth, I am truly going to be interested to see how the next decade shapes society as we know it today.
Great post, I am almost 100% in agreement with you