Yesterday, as I was walking back from the train station after a long day at work, I ran into someone I knew on the way home. After we exchanged greetings and we proceeded to chat, it quickly became hard to hold a conversation as we both seemed lost in our own worlds. We had both not been expecting this chance meeting and were tired from work, but I later realized that there was more to that encounter than just lethargy from the end of the day.
I had spent most of the train ride on my phone surfing the internet and reading a book, which are both very solitary activities. The bulk of my job requires me to be on my laptop, so obviously I have become very accustomed over the years to communicating online. I even find myself making lunch plans through e-mail, even though the person I’m messaging is in the same side of the building. Ordinary face-to-face contact has become an alternate reality to sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where you can post your day-to-day thoughts and send messages instantly from person to person. You don’t even have to open your mouth or leave your chair anymore to be able to ask people questions or find out about their daily life. The addition of the internet onto cell phones has also become a gateway to instant gratification and can sometimes even spawn new friendships if you are too shy to speak to someone on a more personal level. However, if you really think about it, what is technology doing to the fundamental social skills that people have to learn and cultivate? If you can’t talk to someone in person and you resort to e-mailing or Facebook-ing them, is that really the start to a healthy relationship? While there are definitely some advantages to the technology that have made communication easier in the long run, there are still some drawbacks in the way people relate to each other with this changing technology.
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