Technology and Isolation
A thought popped into my head when I was watching the sci-fi movie ‘Contact’, starring Jodie Foster and Mathew McConaughey about two weeks ago, in the movie McConaughey’s character made a comment about how with the increase of computers in the home people are getting more isolated. His point was that humans’ who are social beings which we can argue need human interaction are isolating themselves as a consequence of having computer with internet access. Nowadays you can do anything and everything at home with a computer and internet connection, for example shopping, communicating via e-mail and so on, and banking; the possibilities are almost endless. What I wanted to know was if this was true, with new technology are we isolating ourselves? I can come up with some instances out of my own life where I have kept my self in doors surfing the net, especially when I’ve just discovered things like chatting on line and on-line communities like my space, bebo, hi-five and so forth.
I’ve looked up some statistics on-line on the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) website which listed such figures in places like Iceland and Denmark with 86% and 79% increase of households with access to computers in 2004 and rapid increase in internet access in households.
I’m not to sure if there has been any studies on this but it sounds really interesting, anybody want comment on this?
-RiX
I’ve looked up some statistics on-line on the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) website which listed such figures in places like Iceland and Denmark with 86% and 79% increase of households with access to computers in 2004 and rapid increase in internet access in households.
I’m not to sure if there has been any studies on this but it sounds really interesting, anybody want comment on this?
-RiX
posted by Anonymous at 10:22 pm
2 Comments:
A very interesting post, I like your idea.
Umm...yes i suppose in some respects we are isolating ourselves more and more but who's to say that its unnatural?
Is there a precedent for what is normal in human behaviour?
We need interaction but is online interaction inferior to real life interaction? Who determines what is right and what is important?
Who has that authority?
We are products of our environments and technology. People are now able to travel in flying machines to remote places on the planet so in some ways we are more united. Perhaps we are spending less time having crumpets and tea with out neighbours, but now we are chatting with people on the other side of the planet. It depends on which relationships you value as important.
Did the printing press make us less sociable? Did the TV? Should we abolish those too? Would you?
I think that our culture has always been changing and evolving with technological and environmental developments. I don't think it's abnormal, just a natural progression.
Caleb (thinks Shadows double as a Pizzeria. Pizza and Beer...*drool*)
PS: I see my friends much more often now that I have my mobile phone and the internet to co-ordinate meeting places so it ain't all bad lah.
As coming from Norway (which I guess is quite high up on that list you are refering to RiX), I can say that in one way people are more isolated. Like I discussed in a post a looong time ago, my little brother would rather stay in front of the computer than go knock on his friends doors...
But for my sake, I agree with Caleb. The net, especially with the msn and skype, has made it a lot easier to make arrangements with my friends and talking to my family. But it's still nice to go out and go shopping and meet for a coffe. Nothing can replace real human contact! :)
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