Technology and Social Interaction

Your task for this assignment is to describe your thoughts on how technology influences social interaction. Do you think the spread of technology has had a positive or negative impact on your everyday face to face interaction? What about for people more generally? What do you think about using the Internet to meet other people (via online dating sites, Craigslist, message boards, fan sites, online gaming, or virtual worlds)? Is connecting to others via online communities a viable way of creating meaningful relationships, or are we neglecting our everyday relationships in favor of these "virtual" relationships? Do we, as a society, need to focus on creating more "real" spaces/public spheres for people to connect, interact, and discuss meaningful political and social issues? 

Technology has had a huge impact on social interaction. It is becoming less and less necessary to occupy the same physical space in order to communicate or share an experience with someone. Computers, Cell phones, Email, Facebook, Twitter, and a myriad of other resources allow individuals to interact in a global network and stay connected to friends and family without the need for face to face interaction.  With the power of the internet at hand, people can choose to spend more time at home and not have to sacrifice being active participants in society. The possibilities seem limitless. Gamers can find a steady stream of opponents, students can take classes online, friends can watch a movie together while everyone sits in their own home, and consumers can have products delivered to their door without ever leaving their seats. Technology is changing the world around us, and it is important that we reflect on how it affects us on a personal level as well as how it affects society as a whole.

In my personal life, the spread of technology has had both a positive and a negative impact on how I interact with others. Perhaps the most positive impact that technology has had on my life is that it has made me more social. Getting my first cell phone allowed me to have conversations with friends that would not have otherwise taken place and social networking sites have allowed me to meet new people as well as get to know my friends better. Most importantly, technology has made it easier to hang out with my friends because contacting them only requires a few clicks. There are however, negative effects that technology has had on my interaction with others. At home, I have noticed that I tend to spend more time on the computer and watching TV than talking to my parents. At school and at work, it’s easier to give someone a call or send them a text or email when I need something than to go meet with them. As a consumer, I prefer to buy something online and have it delivered than having to actually go to the store and socialize with people. Technology has made me somewhat of a couch potato since most of my day now involves sitting down and staring at a screen.

For society as a whole, I believe that there is a trend toward devoting more time to online interaction and that many people have experienced the same social changes due to technology that I have, especially when it comes to meeting others.  Online relationships are great, and I don’t think using social networking, dating sites, or participating in virtual worlds should be discouraged, but I do think that it is important to physically interact with people as well. When we meet people online, we have to realize that many of them are not being completely honest about who they really are; they are merely using a persona. Also, having hundreds of friends online is great, but I think that it is more important to strengthen our connections with the people we care about instead of trying to create hundreds of hollow relationships with strangers. With the spread of technology, creating these meaningful relationships can sometimes be difficult to do because many times we are distracted and ignore those around us. It’s frustrating when you are trying to have a conversation with someone and they keep checking their phone every couple of seconds or ask you to repeat what you said because they were on Facebook and didn’t hear you.

 It’s hard to compete against the connectivity of the internet and the allure of technology, but I believe that spending time with “real” people is a very important part of our lives and that we should not neglect our close friends and family in favor of anon_what’s-their-face.