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It seems that technology has played a huge role in the interaction between people. With such online meeting forums such as myspace, chat rooms, and eHarmony, there is a very obvious divide between the digital world and reality.
The Reality, or the pessimistic view on technology and socialization, emphasizes isolation and the disconnection between the physical world and the digital world. Technology can create a closed, self-centered, insular world, where people pay attention to what’s happening in their heads and on their devices rather than in the outside world. People are engaged with their iPods, SMS, mobile phones, and stop paying attention to what’s going on around them. Information is selected and filtered out based on preference as we cut out what we don’t like or don’t agree with. Technology enables an ignorant society. Even when we are physically present, we are socially absent.
Gerard McAtamney, author of Mobile surfing and effects of wearables: An examination of the effects of a wearable display on informal face-to-face communication, presented a study on the effect of wearable computers on real life conversations. While a few people moved around the room with cyberpunk devices implanted on their bodies, he discovered that paying attention to a stream of information from a wearable device while talking to somebody has a negative impact on the conversation.
Now, if you ever found yourself talking to your spouse when s/he is reading a newspaper, or surfing the Internet, or watching football on TV, you already know what information overload can do to social interactions. Trying to talk to somebody who is paying attention to something else is obviously not the best experience.
The results of this and many of his studies proved that people who use the Internet for entertainment, however, tend to show lower perceived social support and increased loneliness.
There is no doubt that the majority of the technologically advances have only allowed for people to become detached from the world, so just how can technology become more of a benefit and less of a burden?
The answer is as simple, everything always in moderation. Paying more attention to the physical works around you and basqueing in its reality. There is no first conversation more sweet than being able to look that person in the eye and witnessing their reaction. There is more to human interaction that technology will never be able to duplicate.
Tag: eharmony
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