The future and its discontents. Is social networking all that social?
Dunbar's magic number might be a starting point for thinking about this question. And as a disturbing study expressed, which compiled data from a 30 year period, the young are showing a steep decline in empathy. Here's one article on the study.
I'm sure that many of you are on Facebook, or other networks. Does the juggling of all this data--people reduced to bits--provide a liberating experience to you the end-user? Have there been meaningful relationships forged? What kind of a psychological impact do you think it's had on you?
thє вluє wαndєrєr
With all that it lacks it's better than nothing. If you live some place that's not very populated and there's nothing to do then having ppl to connect with via social networking,email,and etc can be the emotional "pick me upper" you need to get you through the day. Humans are social creatures and if this is the only means in which you can interact with others then so be it. I remember bolt in the tail end of the 90s and early 2000s and we were always ahead of the curve as far as social networking goes.
Jul 25, 2012
goodomen
Yes and the most satisfying response to people with little to no empathy is anger and violence!!
Aug 8, 2012
Courtney
I think social networking is what you make it and I'll throw myself out there for in this topic. I used to have a myspace, facebook, etc. to connect with friends. But then I realized I was connecting with my friends face to face and through the network and it was too much. The phone calls declined, the emails declined, and most of all face to face interaction was crap because some put all of their lives out there and there was nothing left to talk about. Which brings me to my next point: some things I wanted to know, some I didn't need to know. Me personally, I would rather use social networking for those I CAN'T see face to face or to meet new people. Which CAN be very social. Maybe I made most of the social networking out to something it wasn't meant to be or intended for. Maybe everyone else did to. I don't know. It is what you make it.
Aug 24, 2012