In this blog one simple question was asked; is technology’s influence on human interaction a positive or a negative one? I’ve discussed 3 different types of technology; cell phones (text messaging), the internet and mp3 players. For the most part technology has a positive influence on human interactions. This blog for example is interactive some people even responded to some of my entries, which makes it a bit more interesting because I’m learning about other people’s views on the subject as I go. Without the help of technology I wouldn’t be able to submit this project. Technology makes human interactions easier and when used in moderation is a great source of communication. Gadgets such as iPods whom I thought would make people less eager to talk to others for the most part don’t have that effect on people. As we say in good old text message lingo Technology FTW (for the win).
Text messaging: a teacher’s worst nightmare, a student’s addiction. I have yet to attend a class where I do not hear the slightly annoying noise of a vibrating cell phone. Text messages are known for being short, straight to the point and an extremely easy and fast way of communicating with anyone who has a cell phone, they are also known for butchering the English language or any language for that matter. Acronyms, abbreviations and the oh so wonderful grammar mistakes; for people who are new to text messaging rest assured you’ll have some learning to do. This way of communication allows you to stay connected with friends and family anytime and anywhere yes even in class. These days people would much rather send a text message than have an actual conversation on the phone, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m one of those people. Not being a fan of phone conversations for various reasons I’ll gladly send a text message instead of making a call and sometimes I really do have no choice. There are even sites like www.twitter.com that allow you to send a text message to your twitter profile to let everyone know what you are doing at any given time. Text messaging brings people together for only 25 cents a message.
In my previous post I mentioned that the Internet allows us to meet new people, for a couple of years now there has been a trend of meeting those people in real life too. Taking an on line “relationship” and bringing it out to the real world is not so uncommon, sure we’ve all heard horror stories crazy serial killers who hunt for young girls on line, but that is not always the case. Sometimes people end up meeting people they really do care for and end up having a long term relationship with them. Such is the case of my friend J.N. who met his now girlfriend on a website a few years back. Here is a brief interview;
-Could you please explain how you met your girlfriend?
J.N.-I met her about 2 years and a half ago on a networking site called www.joebudden.org, a fan site for Joe Budden.
-What about her stood out to you?
J.N.-At the time I had actually stood out to her, because of the way I acted on the site, my ability to make everyone laugh, she reached out to me, I reached back, had a few conversations, exchanged numbers, we hit it off. It also helped that both of us are good looking , oh and she's a Jay Z fan!
-How did your loved ones feel about that?
J.N.-I never shared my personal life, actually, I never shared ANY part of my life with my loved or anyone, they found out one day when I showed up with her at the door like, this is my girl. Now if you're asking how did they feel about me meeting someone online, and engaging in a relationship with them, as far as I could tell everyone was happy for me, they were pretty open minded, I think they more than likely expected it actually, I've been using computers for over ten years, I'm 24 now.
-What were your views on meeting people on line before? did they change?
J.N.-They were always the same, to me meeting someone online, exchanging phone numbers and getting together, is no more different than walking down the street, seeing someone you like and exchanging numbers. When you meet someone online, you're meeting an actual human being, not some sort of robot, but it will take time for people to understand that, close minded people just have a hard time understanding that's all, especially those who hate technology, good thing they're not the predominant species on earth, we would probably be doing this interview by mail, one letter at a time, if they're not against cutting trees down to make paper and what not -Would you recommend this to others?
J.N-I would, to anyone, I mean for me it's actually a success story you know? So I've got nothing negative to say about it. I didn't "meet" a woman who was actually a 350lbs creepy man, it was an actual female, flesh and bones like anyone else, so yes I would, to all the people shocked reading this, women DO actually get online, I specify this only from one side because from my experience men are usually more close minded than women about this, maybe that's just MY experience though. In the end, maybe I was just one of the lucky ones, who knows? All I know is I've been with her for over 2 years, and I'm still happy.
His case is not the only one I know others who have met either friends or partners online and one of my ex-coworkers actually ended up marrying someone he met online. While this subject seems to shine a more positive light on technology's influence on communication we must remember to always be careful when meeting people online and also remember to not give out personal information at least at first to avoid getting ourselves in nasty situations.
I've also found a clip on youtube that touches on the subject of online dating;
IPods,Zunes, mp3 players however you want to call it, it still does not change the fact that almost everyone including myself has one. A wonderful little device really; that lets you enjoy your music anywhere any time sound wonderful doesn’t it? Besides the fact that it turns most owners into zombies who would much rather sit in the corner of the bus and listen to their music instead of having a conversation, well at least that’s what I thought. I can’t speak for everybody so I made a poll to see how other people feel about the matter. One simple scenario and one simple question: let's say you're in a public place and you're listening to your iPod or whichever music device that you happen to own: would it bother you if someone approached you and tried to have a conversation yes or no? 23people (52.27%) said yes it would while the remaining 21(47.73%) said no it would not. A few people that said that it would bother them said it depended on the circumstances; who it was, what song was playing, their mood etc. Here are some of the more interesting answers that I got :
-We're such an antisocial society and things like iPods contribute to that. Personally, I like people and enjoy learning about people and from their experiences so any opportunity to talk to someone that's willing is welcome.
- no....might wind up having an interesting conversation
- I am antisocial and love that my iPod helps me cope with that. Personally, I don't like people and don't enjoy learning about them and their experiences, so any opportunity to talk to someone is avoided by me 90% of the time.
- Yes it would bother me. Most of the times when I have my headphones on I want to zone out the world so I don't really want to have someone coming up to me and bugging me. Same thing when I'm reading
- It really depends all comes down to the person who approaches me, even if I was in a bad mood I'd appreciate an interesting conversation with a stranger, but at the same time I could be in the greatest mood and if some weirdo started talking to me it would bother.
- I don't like this question because the answer can vary based on many factors (ex: my mood, who the person is, if the device is easy to put away, etc.) and I'm too lazy right now to go through all of them.
Normally, I guess I would talk to the person if they seem cool. My attachment to people far outweighs my attachment to music. Yet, if I really just want to listen to the iPod though, that is exactly what I would do. There is nothing wrong with that either. It is more of an issue of circumstance than anything else I guess.
This is something that always happens to me btw. I guess people see me as very approachable. All the crazy people start trying to talk to me at the most inopportune moments.
- No, it would not. I do listen to either zone out or just ignore the world, but if someone wants a conversation, I’m down. I'm not that avoidant.
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
Saturday, April 4, 2009
In today’s society we have countless technological devices to entertain us and bring us closer to each other ; cell phones , computers, internet etc, but could it be that the same devices that are supposed to bring us closer do the complete opposite? The television for example is supposed to keep us updated on world news and entertain us, but some people would much rather sit in front of their televisions for hours on end instead of going for a cup of coffee and have a normal human face to face interaction with a few friends. On the other hand the internet lets us communicate with people all around the world with whom we’d never have the chance to interact otherwise. How does technology influence our day to day interactions with each other? Sure it seems like a simple question at first but the more I looked for an answer, the more it escaped me. Technology seems to be a double edged sword. It’s always hard to pin point the right answer and in this case the right answer seems to be non-existent. I will follow up with a few polls and interviews to guide you along in my quest to find an answer and perhaps help you make up your own mind on the matter.
