Long, but Hopefully Interesting.
At the ripe old age of 24, I am no sage. However, in my very short lifetime I have observed a drastic change (if not deterioration) in the way people communicate with one another.
When I was a young child, at the very dawn of the information age, the only widely used technological device by common people for interpersonal communication was the telephone. I remember that the adults in my life always seemed apprehensive to use the telephone to talk about important personal matters or things they'd rather keep to themselves. I'm not sure if this was a residual practice left over from the days when 'party lines' were used or if this was a practice based on respect for their acquaintances and the delicate matters that they might have been dealing with.
Either way, I was personally instilled with the philosophy that personal and/or delicate matters were to be discussed in person. I remember when it was thought of as an act of respect and integrity to speak on such matters face to face, or as my southern father may have put it, 'man to man.'
Enter the Internet.
The Internet began to gain momentum as a viable form of communication for regular folks like you and I approximately 8 years ago. It was at this time that the tail end of one generation was beginning the more turbulent times of their adolescence and the next generation began their first real dealings with what it meant to communicate and learn the consequences of how said communications are performed. Both generations were virtually unsupervised by their parents seeing as the two-parent family had faded fast and where there were two parents, both worked full-time jobs. In light of this, many of us we're coined 'latch key kids.' As a result, many of us were left to such babysitters as the Internet.
Left to begin our adventures into personal relationships with others via a seemingly random series of zeros and ones; the social and communication skills of younger Americans have been shot completely to hell.
It is here that I'll apologize for any inevitable redundancies. I've written a similar piece dated December 12, 2001 in this forum.
It is here that I will also make the point that I am not an educated sociologist. There will be no statistics furnished to prove my points. There will be no snazzy quotes from hoity-toity university types who have put in months or years of research. However narrow as it might be, I will be speaking strictly from my own point of view and I am limited to just that, my own point of view.
In learning to interact with others by way of the Internet, many of us are not acquainted with what it really means to deal with other humans. Many are unfamiliar with the art of gauging a person's body language, subtle facial expressions, speaking patterns, or voice inflection. When communicating in typed text, none of these things show through. Much, if not most of the cause and effect of our actions are completely missed. There are three major results of this.
The first result is miscommunication. It's very simple. When using these damnable machines to communicate to our friends (and I use that term loosely as so many of our 'friends' these days are people we've never so much as laid eyes upon) we are not properly able to express ourselves considering so much of what makes communication possible between humans is left omitted by text. Unless you are a writer of the caliber of our most revered authors, a lot of what we say (type) is left flat; without expression. The result of this is that the receiver of the words is left to make his or her own assumptions to fill in the numerous blanks. Humans are generally not optimistic beings and are then left to assume only the worst possible scenario, causing great grief and distress. This then only snowballs when a response is made and ultimately spirals out of control into a complete misunderstanding that not only could have, but also should have never occurred.
The second result being that when the first result occurs, the parties involved are not left to deal with the truest consequences of the aforementioned actions. When able to hide or be at a safe distance, humans tend to become rather brave. The only problem is that when behind the monitor and dealing with people we also have to deal with face to face we are neither at a safe distance or safe. In fact, we are in a far more precarious situation seeing as we tend to delude ourselves into thinking we can get away with murder when we are punching the keys rather and flapping our gums. Yet, we continue delude ourselves as feeling safe behind the glass as it has become nearly rote behavior from our upbringing.
Finally, The third effect, and the most severe, is that we now have nearly an entire generation worth of social illiterates who must surmount unprecedented obstacles in order to simply enjoy all that life and other human beings really have to offer. We are left with a vast population of ignorant, deluded, and maladjusted beings that have become far too much like the very machines they use to communicate.
Truth is, I'm not exactly sure how to conclude this. I guess I can be optimistic and say that these roadblocks that I believe to be inherent to our times can be overcome. However, I'm not so sure that is completely true. Then again, I'm not sure it isn't true. I've never been great with speculation anyway. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to write another miniature essay about how things seem to have turned around.
RSG
When I was a young child, at the very dawn of the information age, the only widely used technological device by common people for interpersonal communication was the telephone. I remember that the adults in my life always seemed apprehensive to use the telephone to talk about important personal matters or things they'd rather keep to themselves. I'm not sure if this was a residual practice left over from the days when 'party lines' were used or if this was a practice based on respect for their acquaintances and the delicate matters that they might have been dealing with.
Either way, I was personally instilled with the philosophy that personal and/or delicate matters were to be discussed in person. I remember when it was thought of as an act of respect and integrity to speak on such matters face to face, or as my southern father may have put it, 'man to man.'
Enter the Internet.
The Internet began to gain momentum as a viable form of communication for regular folks like you and I approximately 8 years ago. It was at this time that the tail end of one generation was beginning the more turbulent times of their adolescence and the next generation began their first real dealings with what it meant to communicate and learn the consequences of how said communications are performed. Both generations were virtually unsupervised by their parents seeing as the two-parent family had faded fast and where there were two parents, both worked full-time jobs. In light of this, many of us we're coined 'latch key kids.' As a result, many of us were left to such babysitters as the Internet.
Left to begin our adventures into personal relationships with others via a seemingly random series of zeros and ones; the social and communication skills of younger Americans have been shot completely to hell.
It is here that I'll apologize for any inevitable redundancies. I've written a similar piece dated December 12, 2001 in this forum.
It is here that I will also make the point that I am not an educated sociologist. There will be no statistics furnished to prove my points. There will be no snazzy quotes from hoity-toity university types who have put in months or years of research. However narrow as it might be, I will be speaking strictly from my own point of view and I am limited to just that, my own point of view.
In learning to interact with others by way of the Internet, many of us are not acquainted with what it really means to deal with other humans. Many are unfamiliar with the art of gauging a person's body language, subtle facial expressions, speaking patterns, or voice inflection. When communicating in typed text, none of these things show through. Much, if not most of the cause and effect of our actions are completely missed. There are three major results of this.
The first result is miscommunication. It's very simple. When using these damnable machines to communicate to our friends (and I use that term loosely as so many of our 'friends' these days are people we've never so much as laid eyes upon) we are not properly able to express ourselves considering so much of what makes communication possible between humans is left omitted by text. Unless you are a writer of the caliber of our most revered authors, a lot of what we say (type) is left flat; without expression. The result of this is that the receiver of the words is left to make his or her own assumptions to fill in the numerous blanks. Humans are generally not optimistic beings and are then left to assume only the worst possible scenario, causing great grief and distress. This then only snowballs when a response is made and ultimately spirals out of control into a complete misunderstanding that not only could have, but also should have never occurred.
The second result being that when the first result occurs, the parties involved are not left to deal with the truest consequences of the aforementioned actions. When able to hide or be at a safe distance, humans tend to become rather brave. The only problem is that when behind the monitor and dealing with people we also have to deal with face to face we are neither at a safe distance or safe. In fact, we are in a far more precarious situation seeing as we tend to delude ourselves into thinking we can get away with murder when we are punching the keys rather and flapping our gums. Yet, we continue delude ourselves as feeling safe behind the glass as it has become nearly rote behavior from our upbringing.
Finally, The third effect, and the most severe, is that we now have nearly an entire generation worth of social illiterates who must surmount unprecedented obstacles in order to simply enjoy all that life and other human beings really have to offer. We are left with a vast population of ignorant, deluded, and maladjusted beings that have become far too much like the very machines they use to communicate.
Truth is, I'm not exactly sure how to conclude this. I guess I can be optimistic and say that these roadblocks that I believe to be inherent to our times can be overcome. However, I'm not so sure that is completely true. Then again, I'm not sure it isn't true. I've never been great with speculation anyway. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to write another miniature essay about how things seem to have turned around.
RSG