Lets face it, we live in a society today where people are incapable of face to face interaction. While I'm on it, most people can't even pick up the phone and call each other. Due to vast popularity social networking sites, such as facebook and myspce, people are simply taking the easy way out and making this their central means of communication. We live in a society today where everyone seems to be on the go. Because of this, people also seem to want to communicate on the go as well. We all know that it's much easier to send an instant message over facebook than pick up the phone and call, but is it better for interpersonal relationships. People seem to be taking these social networking sites, such as facebook, and using it to communicate with others because they just aren't accustomed to face to face interaction. They can use excuses like it's much easier and accessible, but I feel otherwise. I feel that people just don't know what to say around each other anymore. Facebook has turned our society into a socially challenged one. It's much easier to get online and see what so and so are doing, rather than going to visit them. This, in turn, causes us to not know how to handle ourselves when we are put in the latter situation. In my opinion, we need to stop using these websites as social crutches. Broken relationships between people are mostly caused by a lack of communication between both parties. Lets try our best to prevent future generations from becoming socially awkward.
Josh Staggs
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Very acute insights, and I agree completely. I would also add that facebook embodies a cultural element of narcissism: people wishing to project themselves in the most calculated, controlled manner, as if they are running their own public relations campaign. There is no denying that we live in an image/status-obsessed society. The irony that I find is that, due to the erosion of interpersonal skills and face to face interaction, people are becoming lonelier. It's not easy to talk to people anymore. Walk up to somebody to ask a question and the first thing they do is irritably remove one headphone from their ear. Already you're off to a bad start. But, in my mind facebook is also a giant plea for help from the lonely, disconnected multitudes. Fundamentally, most of us desire the same things: recognition and appreciation, love and acknowledgment. People, conditioned to feel inadequate in an age of deceptive production, post images in the most self-flattering matter, or statuses that convey how meaningful their lives are. They want to be seen, heard and noticed. Conversely, facebook embodies the spirit of ruthless, hyper-intensive competition that is so pervasive in America. It arouses insecurity in its users. People looking at other profiles grow envious, jealous and insecure. I think that there is a growing element of social utilitarianism in our society: people only interact with each other if it somehow benefits them. 'If you can't get ME from Point A to Point B, then what purpose do you serve ME?' I pride myself on my interpersonal skills and find it sickly amusing: people just don't know what to say to each other anymore. You see this in grocery store lines, elevators and what not. Stiff, awkward silences punctuated by insincere mumbles of, 'Hey, how's it going' (Emphasis on the missing question mark). Nothing substantive. And, the senseless rapidity of technology in a consumer-driven culture is having a detrimental effect on our psyches. Impatience prevails. Patience, in my mind, aligns itself with the qualities of compassion, empathy and human understanding. The more impatient a person is, the more likely they are to be insensitive to the needs of others, or calloused to their struggles. People are on cell phones, blackberries, iPods, tuning each other out, constantly in a rush, a hurry, for what? To go where? I think that, at some point, we need to do away with these needless impediments and get back to... talking to each other. Technology is nothing more than a tool, and facebook as well. There are certain human intangibles that can never be replaced or even aptly substituted.
ReplyDeletePS It's telling to me when I will be texting back and forth and finally reach the, "Fuck it I'll just call" point, and there is no answer...