digital age of lonliness
I overheard a conversation the other day, and it scared me quite frankly. Not like the spooky ghost story kind of scared, but the "where is our society headed, for goodness sakes" scared.
Girl one: "You know, I don't have much of a social life anymore. College takes up too much time."
Girl two: "I have a really good social life."
Girl one: "Really?"
Girl two: "Yeah, online, with facebook and stuff."
For the sake of time, we'll look over the obvious scare in people thinking that higher education TAKES AWAY TIME FROM THEIR SOCIAL LIVES, and move on to a more disturbing subject: how good for our relationships is this digital age?
Gone are the days of families regularly getting together, to chat over coffee and pie. I remember growing up and having people over quite a bit. Even though we lived in the country. We had neighbors, and a wood burning fireplace. Now, it's scary to think that someone can have a relationship with someone totally via the internet, and they can never meet in person. There is something magical that happens when you're sitting at the kitchen table at 12:30 taking a study break with your roomates. While the digital social life is a good supplement to that: live journal communities, facebook helps you keep in touch with old friends etc, it should in no way REPLACE those real friends. As someone once put it: "refrigerator friends". How many people do you know that could come over to your house, barely say hi to you, grab a soda from the fridge, plop down on your couch, turn on your TV, and you would be 100% okay with it?! (Aside from your spouses!) We are embarking on an age in which real live relationships are dwindling! I am guilty of it myself. Especially since I live so far away from people, and I'm so poor, I tend to stick in a movie instead of driving into town to have drinks with a friend. But I also feel lonely a lot more when I do that, and isolated. Is this where the next generation is going to feel safe? Behind a computer screen, unable to interact person to person, or verbally? I just think it is a good thing to think on. I think we could all do with a few more refrigerator friends, don't you?
Girl one: "You know, I don't have much of a social life anymore. College takes up too much time."
Girl two: "I have a really good social life."
Girl one: "Really?"
Girl two: "Yeah, online, with facebook and stuff."
For the sake of time, we'll look over the obvious scare in people thinking that higher education TAKES AWAY TIME FROM THEIR SOCIAL LIVES, and move on to a more disturbing subject: how good for our relationships is this digital age?
Gone are the days of families regularly getting together, to chat over coffee and pie. I remember growing up and having people over quite a bit. Even though we lived in the country. We had neighbors, and a wood burning fireplace. Now, it's scary to think that someone can have a relationship with someone totally via the internet, and they can never meet in person. There is something magical that happens when you're sitting at the kitchen table at 12:30 taking a study break with your roomates. While the digital social life is a good supplement to that: live journal communities, facebook helps you keep in touch with old friends etc, it should in no way REPLACE those real friends. As someone once put it: "refrigerator friends". How many people do you know that could come over to your house, barely say hi to you, grab a soda from the fridge, plop down on your couch, turn on your TV, and you would be 100% okay with it?! (Aside from your spouses!) We are embarking on an age in which real live relationships are dwindling! I am guilty of it myself. Especially since I live so far away from people, and I'm so poor, I tend to stick in a movie instead of driving into town to have drinks with a friend. But I also feel lonely a lot more when I do that, and isolated. Is this where the next generation is going to feel safe? Behind a computer screen, unable to interact person to person, or verbally? I just think it is a good thing to think on. I think we could all do with a few more refrigerator friends, don't you?