Artificial Connections

Connection. When we first strived to close the geographic divide separating humanity, with wheels for faster transportation, followed by boats and cars and aero-planes and so on, we never could have imagined the internet. We realized that what we craved wasn’t necessarily to be there in person-- we would be fine with a superficial sense of “being there” because of how time-saving it is. Cue telegrams, telephones, radios, televisions… all “tele-inventions;” we loved the ability to interract at a distance. The internet is the current epitome of this yearning passion for instantaneous human connection, and until we invent virtual reality and/or teleportation, it’s what we have. The purpose of the internet is to connect the human race via a break-down of boundaries and creating alternate personas, so that we feel as though we are genuinely experiencing the people on the other side of the screen. It is an undeniable fact that humans are social creatures and crave interaction, and history has shown that we will use any available means to socialize.

Let’s look at the beginnings of the internet: ARPAnet. Initially started as a military project in 1972 to keep the country under control in a post-nuclear war state, it quickly degraded from a research meca to a method of socialization: “The main traffic on ARPANET was not long-distance computing. Instead, it was news and personal messages. Researchers were using ARPANET to collaborate on projects, to trade notes on work, and eventually, to downright gossip and schmooze. People had their own personal user accounts on the ARPANET computers, and… they were very enthusiastic about this particular service -- far more enthusiastic than they were about long-distance computation” (Sterling, pg. 2). The technology quickly spread, exponentially growing as more and more people joined in on the fun. Mailing lists of different social groups were created, and Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web sprung off hundreds of social media outlets. Although originally segmented by race, these social media sites quickly fell into generalized categories in which anyone may participate. This leads to a sense of leaving your body behind, and just talking, with your mind, to others, and their minds. From the beginnings to present-day, we’ve flooded the internet with not research, but social interaction.

Is this social interaction as genuine as face-to-face interaction? Many would argue not. There are special features of “hanging” with someone in person that cannot easily be captured online at the same time-- body language, voice intonation, or even just physical interaction (even just hugs or pats on shoulders can be needed sometimes). Nathaniel Hawthorne, in 1846, felt quite strongly against air-tight stoves, feeling that society was losing an important social gathering place with open life to a fire. (You know watching an open fire is different than sitting around a stove- who sits around stoves, anyway?) He continues on with a prediction that I can’t help but think rings with modern-day truth: “Domestic life--if it may still be termed domestic--will seek its separate corners, and never gather itself into groups. The easy gossip--the merry, yet unambitious jest--the life-long, practical discussion of real matters in a casual way--the soul of truth, which is so often incarnated in a simple fireside word--will disappear from earth.” Let’s talk about family dinners. Families sat down together and talked with one another. It seems that today an increasing number of families in America sit immersed in their technology, on their smart phones, laptops, tablets, music players, gaming devices, you name it.

The idea that we’ll “seek separate corners” may not be physically correct, but I feel that it is mentally correct. When you are talking with someone and pull out your phone to reply to an e-mail, facebook post, or text message, you are half-heartedly listening to the other person. If you’re really immersed in the conversation, you’d hardly pause and would be actively engaged. We’ve lost this increasingly, proportional to our increasing use of portable technology. This replacement of social interactions and human connection is nothing but artificial. A TED Talks that we watched in class reviewed the concept that we build technologies to make things in our lives easier. For instance, if I’m feeling sad, I can go play my online video game and ignore it. If I have been jaded and am filled with mistrust for everyone, I can go online and have multiple “friends” and get that interaction, but never face my fears. The internet is very dangerous in that it lulls us into a false sense of well-being and security, but I fear that we will end up feeling very empty a decade or so down the road. Losing abilities to attentively hold a conversation, to deal with social pressures and relations, to face our fears… all of this is so detrimental to us as people.

Of course, we like it. Just like we enjoy drugs-- yes, it may be bad for us. But it is good right now. However, when is the stopping point for technology? Just because we can contact everyone 24/7, does that also mean we should? Ask yourself next time that you are surfing the web or stuck in your phone: what are you missing out on? IRL?