I just watched a show on Netflicks all about solitary confinement and the adverse effects it has on the psyche. It got me to think about this project and how social networking allows for this new form of confinement. I would imagine that since the internet has become so widely used, individuals spend less time interacting in real life. I know that if I am feeling lonely I do not always call a friend or try to arrange plans, sometimes I will just send a text and communicate solely through technology to meet that psychological need for companionship.
The internet is a tool that we use more and more frequently to feel socially connected. It is ironic because it lessens the amount of time we spend interacting with others physically but increase overall interactions and the possibilities for interactions. I was talking to my friend on Skype last night and I would not have had a chance to see her again for a really long time if it were not for the technological advances and the availability of software.
My roommate was home but I choose to sit alone in my room for two hours talking to my friend from a distance rather than talking to my friend who was actually here in real life. Was that a meaningful decision on my part? The internet is great because it allows for accessible communication in real time which makes maintaining long distance relationships much easier. I spent the summer in the Dominican Republic and it was such an encouragement to receive e-mails from friends and family and to spend time on Skype catching up with them. But it also hindered some of my relationships in the Dominican. Many of the other interns would spend hours talking to their family at home and by doing so they neglected the potential for new relationships right in front of them.
Technology represents yet another area of our lives where balance must be found. Balancing real life interactions and virtual interactions is now a key component to a healthy lifestyle. How do you deal with this balance? Do you find yourself texting when you could be engaging with someone who is physically present? Have you noticed this getting in the way of your actual, person to person interactions?
Here we acknowledge one of the most important cautionary themes surrounding our augmented realities! Thanks for Posting on this Sarah! Solitary confinement can obviously inflict adverse affects on the individual, so we look at technology almost immediately as holding a convenient solution to such a problem. This is a prime example of how we fall back on technology with regards to it as a solution to our problem. e.g. we are lonely and isolated to we submerge ourselves in online networking and texting. In the process of finding relief we continue to grow a dependence on that which keeps us physically isolated and uninteractive.
ReplyDeleteThat was exactly what I was thinking. We are more virtually accessible but less physically.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of the future. An image sort of popped into my head, everyone just sitting at a computer screen, we could easily go about our daily lives with out even leaving our homes, or our seats even.
ReplyDeleteIts sort of like living in the Matrix, we create this world and we accept the visual media we have coming in, but we aren't physically a part of it.
I mean not to the extreme of my daydream but in a way we sort of are creating our own matrix, instead of machines taking over, we are creating machines, and using them ourselves to take over our reality.