As technology moves to the forefront of society and we gradually rely on it more and more, people don't feel the need to do things that technology can do. Want to contact someone? Use e-mail/texting/facebook. Want to play a game? The computer has games. But don't these things isolate us as well? Will there be a point where there will be basically no actual contact with people outside of technology? People hardly talk to each other on the phone any more, instead they text empty words. I don't like the idea of living in a world where there is no talking and there are just words on a screen. Going back to my post about words, it's much easier to convey messages in person.
When someone that could talk to me in person decides that they want to talk to me online I don't like that. At all. I don't like that I feel like this because I feel like I have no grounds to, but I can't help it. Last year I wanted to talk to someone all the time, but whenever that person sent me a message online I didn't respond. I do feel bad about that, but if that person didn't even try to find me to talk to me when it wouldn't take much effort, then do they really even care? I know it's partially my fault, but I felt like I put forth the effort to try and talk to that person but it seemed like they didn't care. Maybe that person just felt like it was enough to talk online, but that just isn't enough to me. That's another one of my unfounded things I don't like.
Empty words in a text box can be very misleading. How do you know that right now I'm not extremely angry? You don't. And you would never know because you have to surmise everything you can from the text that's here to try and figure out how I feel. I can put a smiley face right here -> :] and you just assume that I'm happy.
This is my dilemma: I love talking to people online, but at the same time I despise it. Anybody can reply "I'm great" when asked "How are you?", but there is no way of knowing if they're lying. Maybe that seems trivial to you, but to me it's important. I hate the open interpretations a block of text can present. You can't see the person's reaction to what you've said, so you don't know if they understood what you meant. If they didn't understand, chances are they don't say anything about it, but if you were having that conversation in real life, you would be able to tell if they understood you or not. I like online chat for the reason that I can talk to people when I want to, but at the same time it feels impersonal.
What really bugs me is the textspeak that's being formed. It wouldn't surprise me much if it were made into its own language. "hi how r u" seems pathetic and lame. I admit that sometimes I do type like that, but that's when I either don't really feel like putting in the effort to hit a few extra keys or if I just don't really want to talk. Do we really need spelling classes if we're just going to end up spelling only half or less than half of each word and inserting random numbers as substitutes for letters?
This turned out more to be a rant on technology. But now back to 'evolution'. Common sense just seems to fail us. We take all the new technology for granted and it seems like we are getting so lazy that we don't want to think anymore. We rely on technology more than ever and continue to try and take the easy way out of everything. Want to know something? Google it. Books themselves could become obsolete in a not so far future. As technology develops are we moving away from traditions and the foundation of society?
I totally agree with that. That was my whole rant about virtual classes during school and how it's supposed to be "the new era" for our school. Technology makes everything impersonal. I didn't realize until I lost internet for a few days how much happier I am without it.
ReplyDeleteI like to talk to people online because when you have a chance to think about what you're going to say, you can censor what you say more than in real life and word it right. People make fun of me because they'll see the "Juliana has entered text" indicator and know that I'm rereading and editing what I typed. My mom was saying the other day what you were saying about how people don't talk on the phone anymore, and that's true. I can't talk on the phone. I've always hated it, but now it's really awkward because you have to speak in real time with no chance to reread and edit but you still can't see the person, so you can't judge their facial expressions. Even though I'm totally dependent on it...I wish I wasn't because now people are just like robots and losing their social skills.
I wasn't happy when you didn't have internet xD
ReplyDeleteBut with the whole censorship of what you want to say that could also be a bad thing. If you can edit everything so easily then what you say kinda loses meaning. I like that online you have a lot of time to deliberate about what you want to say and how to say it. But that also loses the personal feeling of spontaneity which I like in conversations.