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.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007
With Globalization Comes Isolation
In the past week, I interacted with people from around the United States, Canada, the UK, and Europe. We shared ideas, advice, instructions, and laughter. I facilitated events with hundreds of attendees and watched as they learned and asked questions. How global of me. Did I mention I didn’t have to leave my chair?
Think about how small this world has become through blogs, email, instant messenger, and web seminars. Before the Internet, how long would it have taken you to interact with hundreds of people from distant lands?
The Internet, among other technologies, has brought people closer to one another, yet our society is spending more time with technology and less time with other humans. It is great that I can order books online and have them shipped directly to my home, but there is a comforting buzz of energy in bookstore. I love that I don’t have to go to the bank, but I miss out on the chance of seeing a neighbor in line.
Technology has, arguably, made our lives easier. Many businesses are becoming global that never would have considered it ten short years ago. People are befriending others across oceans through socialization on the Internet.
With all of this globalization, however, we are also isolating ourselves from our immediate surroundings. The art of conversation is truly an art now that we have succumbed to the immediate transfer of short phrases and acronyms.
Look up from your computer. Look at your surroundings. What do you see? What do you hear? Are there other people in the room? I dare you to speak to one of them. After their initial shock, they might start speaking back. In seconds you could be having a quick exchange of information with an actual, living, breathing soul, right there in the room.
