I am a child of the internet. Well, maybe not a child, but definitely a young adult....OK...ADULT.
I got my first computer, an Atari 2400XL, at the age of 13. Upgraded to a Macintosh LC in college, and then grew to love the Internet by the time I was 28. And one of the first things I got hooked on was IRC (Internet Relay Chat). The first chat rooms before AOL created theirs.
In IRC, like all chat rooms, you can talk (type) with people from all over the world. Which I did, and met many people I never would have just living here in the U.S. I became friends with a young man from Israel (who later joined the Israeli Military), a woman from Australia, a electrician from Iowa, and even a young aspiring politician from Canada.
I chatted with them on a daily basis, getting to know who they were, what they liked, and how their days were going. I would consider this 'Being Social'. Instead of talking on the phone or over a cup of coffee; it was over a keyboard (and a cup of coffee.)
However, I was surprised a few weeks ago that one of my classes did not consider instant messaging and using the Social Networking sites, like Myspace and Facebook, as 'being social'. In fact about half of the class said it was less social. "If I want to be social, I'll call a friend on my cell phone." one student replied.
So, I am very interested....do you think using instant messaging and leaving comments on Social Networking sites, is 'being social'? I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think any form of communication could count as social contact. Maybe it is true that the less physical contact there is, the less real it feels, but its still social. If you ask somebody how there day was through morse code, you're missing out on their expression but you can get the basic idea. The only difference between the phone and IM is that you can't hear the speakers expression. A lot of people talk to friends online that they would never call on the phone, but that doesn't mean its not social contact.
It doesn't surprise me that 'less physical contact' might seem less social. But let's look at it from another perspective.
100+ years ago, getting postal mail from someone was an intimate affair. Now I grant you getting email is no where near as intimate as those letters were. But I think they were almost more significant, than a phone conversation is today.
So if that is the case, why would we consider electronic communication differently? Has society changed so much that our views about social contact have changed. (Yes, it has, I believe. Just posing the question for discussion.)
Thanks for your post glen!
By definition, being social is "engaging a gathering or party, especially of or as given by an organized group."
That is easily applicable to talking online. It is a gathering, just in a more abstract form. It is the same as talking on the phone, except instead of transferring a voice over fiberoptic cables, your transfering bits representing ASCII characters.
Anyone who disagrees is a n00b. And should go home. Now.
Post a Comment