Human Interaction: A thing of the past or future?

Internet café: a place where you will be in the presence of others, with whom you will not communicate, while you use your computer to communicate with people who are not there

This was the definition given by the Blue Man Group at a show last week. Roughly. I wasn't taking notes.

By the way, I highly recommend their show. It was, as the critics say, entertaining, thought-provoking (who knew?), and surprising. But I digress.

In a seemingly odd phenomenon, it's not uncommon to see users engrossed in their computer at a coffee house or book store. One could argue that they are missing out on human interaction. If we think about it though, absent of computers, those patrons likely would not have spoken to their fellow strangers anyhow. In fact, some of them may even be interacting with humans on the other end of those computer lines in book stores across the country.

The Internet has changed human interaction, whether for better or worse is in the hands of each user.

Brad Paisley Shows Us Our Own Ridiculousness, Again

Brad Paisley's latest music video humorously depicts internet behavior. In "Online" he discussed the persona shifts that sometimes come along with online interaction when a user portrays themselves in a stronger, more confident way.

I discussed social networking the other day and, while I think online interaction serves some purposes, it can not replace face-to-face interaction. Our lives are different online than they are in the real world. As I write this, I am wearing a faded 15 year old t-shirt and baggy cotton pants, yet I could present myself as a cutthroat business person if I so chose. I could not, however, walk out my front door in these clothes and elicit the same response. Don't misunderstand me; I don't mean to imply that one of these is the right way, the other wrong. I think both real world and online interactions can be enlightening, educational, even empowering.

Brad Paisley has yet again analyzed our society at a wonderfully basic level. See some of his other observations in "Celebrity" or "Alcohol." Reality is always entertaining.

Moving From Online to Real World Disorienting

Switching from the online world to the real world can be jarring. When your mind has been so focused on the computer screen and typed interactions, it can be disorienting to “re-enter” the real world and conduct normal activity. After tuning out the world around you, it can sometimes take seconds or even minutes to adjust to a different way of functioning. If you have been working on the Internet for a long stretch of time, then find yourself interacting with a human face-to-face, it may even feel awkward for a moment to remember that you actually can use your facial expressions; you don’t have to rely on emoticons. Your phraseology may even change. Such are the dangers of living a virtual life. Interactions may become more difficult. Isolation may grow to be comfortable.

Careful, Flames Can Burn (Relationships, that is)

Social interaction has certainly changed over the years. Sarcasm, for instance, is commonplace in many conversations, but this wasn’t always the case. Now that the Internet provides a way to communicate by typing, all of the cues provided in speech and body language are lost.

One commonly used statistic is that in communication only 7 percent of the meaning is gained from the actual words. Roughly 38 percent comes from vocal cues and the remaining 55 percent from facial expressions. This implies that only very basic literal meaning can be gleaned from a typed message.

Who cares? Well, the person you just emailed might. In a New York Times essay, Daniel Goleman explains, “if we are typing while agitated, the absence of information on how the other person is responding makes the prefrontal circuitry for discretion more likely to fail” (Flame First, Think Later: New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior, February 20). This means your message may be interpreted differently than you intended. You may have inadvertently offended the recipient because you were unable to alter your speech based on their reactions.

Routine communications have changed with technology. Take the absence of nonverbal cues and add the factor of people feeling less inhibited behind their computers, then there is a whole new dynamic to human interaction.

Before you hit send, read your message to make certain it is clear. It’s just good practice anyway.