The Virtual Revolution: 4 - Homo Interneticus
My comments on episode four of The Virtual Revolution, Homo Interneticus
What is the effect of the Internet over the previous 20 years and has it trivialised are relationships and rotted our brains. Has the Internet changed humans fundamentally as a result of the Internet revolution? That was the question posed by Aleks Krotoski in the opening of the forth and final episode of Virtual Revolution. The thesis of this episode is that the Internet has changed humanity by modifying our thinking, especially in the young who jump from topics through hyperlinks and read less long form material. Has the Internet resulted in fundamental changes and evolution for humanity.
In my opinion the Internet has fundamentally changed us all. I believe that regular users of the Internet are now programmed to be increasingly impatient because we are used to instant gratification for our queries in the form of emails, websites, photos, video and social networks. This ever faster and greater connected World in which we inhabit is driven through the exchange of information. The Internet Generation which I am a member of use tools such as Facebook to plan our lives around the exchange of information in a digital economy of knowledge.
In my opinion the social information economy which is constructed around the concept of status updates on Facebook and Twitter has diluted the value of friendship and lowered our capacity to maintain deep and meaningful relationships. I am forming this hypothesis because I believe that the demands of the First World limit our ability to compartmentalise our lives to spend time with friends and family because of the hectic life style society forces upon us to remain plugged in and engaged.
As a result I believe social networking services have flourished because they allow users to publish snippets about their present situation. This allows friends to periodically check the recent status of others in the news feed and apprise themselves on changes in the lives of their friends. This completes the information loop between friends and I believe gives the illusion of maintaining a friendship.
This dilution of friendship means your are no longer spending time with someone. You are not setting aside the time to have coffee with someone to exchange stories and share in the companionship and mutual enjoyment of social grooming. Websites are fantastic creations of design and programming but they are fundamentally intangible in the way humans experience the World through all our senses. They cannot express emotion and physically sensing of the environment. Life is about sharing experiences ideas and dreams through conversation and dialogue. These are all qualities the Internet has in abundance but ultimately we are physically disconnected despite the increasing prevalence of Internet connectivity. I feel that the conversations on the Internet have the tendency to be trivial and lack value because ultimately they are fleeting connections.
If this is the future of the human species I feel that it is a disappointing reality. Homo Interneticus will evolve and flourish through better education as a result of increasing collaboration and exchange of ideas. However I believe the experience of life should not be limited by the Internet. Sometimes you just have to unplug.
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