If it's connections we need in order to feel good and technology makes us feel connected we are going to continue to isolate ourselves more and more by getting closer to technology. Technology provides what we could consider a false sense of connection. However, I do believe there is a lot of room for discussion on whether or not we actually are "connected" in the correct (human) sense of the term.
Today's technology (social networks especially) makes us feel loved. We connect in a 90% positive way. There is very little negativity in the technology we consume and we can adapt our technology to meet our needs. We can create a self contained environment of self satisfaction that is as close as we're going to get to sex without actually having any. It's like chocolate without the calories and drugs without the cold sweats and the shakes. We decide who should be present and who less so. We can artificially control the levels of happiness, love, laughs, warmth, news and gossip we receive.
It's a very dangerous cocktail of false happiness that we are consuming. Real life feels less good: we have less control over it, less say in what happens and therefore we are less pleased with the results.
When we don't get the attention we need from our social networks then we turn to another source. When one of our online friends isn't present we turn to the next. We have backup plans for when one source is gone.
There are two sides to the coin, as usual. The connections are really there. They exist, they are real people that have real reactions and lives. They mean something to us and us to them. Moments and feelings are exchanged.
The risk is that we lose touch with what life is supposed to feel like; that life has it's downs, and it's only from the downs that you can figure out what is good. If everything is 'good', and adrenaline is the 'really good', then the 'good' is going to start feeling like 'bad' and the adrenaline won't be enough.
*My views on this are pretty mixed, I wrote this because it's a point of view that I can see. It feels like a premonition rather than a reality. It is a piece of semi-fictional writing, it is not my exact view of things right now but I can easily see it going there.... I guess what I'm trying to say is that many things are very true for me but it's not quite this dire... or maybe it is and I'm just a tech addict with a moment of clarity.*
1 comment:
This piece is wonderful and sad and encouraging all at the same time. I've been "on-line" for a long time now and the friends I've made are as important to me as my "in-person" friends.
A couple of years ago I stopped using the phrase "IRL" or "In real life" because i realized tha tmy on-line friends were as real as anyone who happen to share my zip code.
I do feel, sometimes, that the distance makes it tough, makes it less real. I feel sad that there are friends I will never hug, people I'll never speak to. I want to know what their laughter sounds like, i want to hear them sing bad karaoke, or watch them dance to their favorite song.
I want to wrap my arms around these special friends and feel their heart beat next to mine. I want to wipe away their tears and not sit quietly by when their hearts are burdened.
I love the technologly that has extended my world beyong my little town. I love my friends that have come into my life because of these wonderful collections of memory chips and wired and hardware. I love it all, and if it's a two-edged sword, if I feel that tinge of sadness that comes from missing out on somethings, I'll take that sadness and count myself lucky.
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