Social Interaction

I remember growing up my mother would say “Go play in 5 o’clock traffic”.  This was my cue to grab my bike and go play outside until the street lights came on.  All the neighborhood kids would be there.  We’d play fort, tag, hide and seek, and all the other kid games.  Life was good.  Today, you can do all that stuff virtually with people not only in your backyard but half a world away as well. 

"Does the internet isolate people from real social interaction?" asks the textbook.  It is a matter of interpretation.  There are arguments for both sides.  The internet has made this a very small world where we can purchase goods and services from the farthest reaches of the planet.  You can sit in front of your webcam and speak to your family while being deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq.  Or log into Facebook, Twitter, Google, or any other social media outlet and have your ideas and voice heard.  For those who are socially shy and get that feeling of stage fright, you no longer have to worry about that in front of the keyboard because you’re not confronting anyone personally.

The counter argument is that people have lost the ability to communicate effectively through the numerous shortcuts, emo-icons, slangs, and other nuisances of today’s technical language.  The art of conversation and fluid balance of the written word is lost on today’s generation.  Gone are the vivid, luxurious sentences of Jane Austin, James Fennimore Cooper or Nathanial Hawthorne describing the simplest gesture, article of clothing, or emotion.  And yet, those same individuals were quiet individuals in society who wouldn’t have had a voice if they had not become authors.  What would they be like with today’s technology?  Would Jane Austin be a hash-tagging addict?  Would Nathanial Hawthorne be on Pinterest?

Just a little food for thought……