The Internet which was created in 1973 ( http://wiki.answers.com/Q/In_what_ye...ternet_created ) allows us to access thousands of sites from all over the world it lets us communicate with anyone at any given time it. A powerful tool of communication, from forums to blogs and sites like Myspace and Facebook . The Internet is not only a great way to keep in touch with loved ones but also a way to meet new people. With all this chatting, emailing, the abbreviations and the acronyms and of course the complete butchering of the English language doesn’t the Internet take away from personal interactions? Social skills; we develop them since we’re young by interacting with others at schools, in parks at work etc, the warmth of face to face interaction cannot be replaced by a screen and a keyboard. The face to face interactions allow us to learn how to read facial expressions and learn about other human beings and their body language which is not something we can do while sitting in front of a screen. Things like sarcasm are very badly translated into text and sometimes can stir up a bit of trouble between the people that are trying to have a conversation on line. The Internet is a good thing as long as it’s used in moderation and does not replace the vital interaction that has built our civilization
3 comments:
The internet is a good way to interact with people which replaced sending letters to people when you can just email someone. The bad part about the internet is some people will spent the whole day on the internet and not interact with people face to face.
It's always been a concern of mine that most communication has turned to that of written (or typed) form and less of a physical interaction or "face to face" conversations. That said, I been able to see the pros and cons of this change in our society.
Its known that before there was email and Instant Messaging, there were letters and post cards. What technology has been able to provide for us, is an easier way to communicate between two (or more) people virtually instantly. Computers have provided the ability to have communication around the world. This opens so many options for people to be introduced to different societies, cultures, people, lives, and thoughts. With this understanding, new friends can be made through the comfort of your own desk/couch/room/etc. This can then lead to conversations held through "video chats" using webcams (if we were to stick to computer based communication) or maybe even lead to phone conversations. This provides a great oppurtinity for social skills to be improved and used regularly. Although you still are developing social skills, they do vary from the physical and verbal interactions you have with someone. A face to face interaction will always be more intimate and will leave a longer lasting impression on someone than that of a text based form, so these skills should be worked on seperately. For people not as open to these experiences, this provides a very easy form of cruelty where one can say anything that they'd like, whether it is insulting, degrading, ignorant, or just plain stupid, with no form of consequence. Forums are very well known for such behavior. All of these nuances would be minimal if not absent if a setting with a number of people were engaged in a conversation face to face. Its not necessarily that these actions are preventing people from acting "appropriately," but its more of a situation where one knows that their actions cannot contain a form of consequence that will affect them.
Cell phones, which had started out to be a perfect way to get ahold of someone if instant communcation is NEEDED, have turned to a device that can be used whenever and wherever someone needs to get in contact with anybody else. Later came the inclusion of text messages and email directly to your cell phone. Over time communication turned into more of a convenience being that it was only held whenever someone would find free time to send a brief message. Sendin a text message or email does not require any immediate attention to the conversation being held, hence creating a form of start and stop statements. Situations and actions that seem acceptable during a text based conversation would not go well during a verbal interactions. There's plenty of ppl nowadays (most being those of the "new" generation) that prefer conversation to be held through "texting." This then creates a loss of communication amongst ppl which is caused by the convenience of startin and stoppin at the individual's leisure (which I stated before).
In conclusion, even though technology will continue to allow us to communicate through different means and allow us to evolve our social skills, we still need to find ways to properly place ourselves in situations that can continue helping us in face to face interactions.
The internet also provides the problem of facilitating extreme content and the sharing of such content, with little to no government awareness.
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