Although I enjoy perusing through online updates regarding what my friends are up to, I am concerned that human communication is becoming too focused upon instant information. I am reminded of the negative effect this has upon human interactions each time I am having lunch with a friend who constantly checks Facebook and Twitter updates on a cell phone. These updates eventually evolve from an interruption into the dictating topic of conversation. Therefore, I worry that by obsessing over online social news updates, we are failing to interact with the people directly in front of us, who, in most cases, are much more pertinent to our current lives than our digital friends, whom we watch from afar.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Response to I'm So Totally, Digitally, Close to You
After reading Clive Thompson's article "I'm so Totally, Digitally, Close to You", I became much more aware of the impact of Facebook upon my daily interactions. This article made me realize how odd it seems that I know everything about all of my friends through my "News Feed" without directly interacting with them. This troubled me, as I realized that this takes away the event of becoming reacquainted with my friends when I haven't seen them for an extended amount of time.
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Thats a good point. I sometimes catch myself doing the very same thing you talked about (reading texts and other media during conversations). With the addition of iphones and blackberries there isn't any moment that you are separated from the outside world. I can safely say that if I wanted to I could be in a conversation with people all waking hours. This is a nice thought for some but I begin to question if anyone in society is going to get to know themselves. Technology has put distractions at your finger tips no matter where you are. This article is very interesting because it seems like people are spending more time trying to know their friends inside and out than they are knowing themselves.
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