That's just it. Social media seems to be often substituted for face to face interaction or the personal touch of a hand written letter. It's like the satire of the family at the dinner table where the mother texts her daughter to pass the salt. Many youth are becoming socially awkward in non-cyber relations and people don't come with emoticons... yet. In a society that never went techno, social groups would be smaller and more tight knit and interpersonal relations would be more... human. Don't ya think?
With the internet, you can do all your shopping online and check in with your followers on facebook, you can even Google whatever you're curious about. There's practically no need to ever leave the house, except to work, and even that is changing. Social media and the Internet are in many ways isolating people rather than bringing them together. Back in the day, you went to the store and likely got to know the shopkeepers (most shops were family businesses where the same people worked for years, rather than franchises with rapid turnover) and if you wanted to read you went to a library, another place with - OMG PEOPLE! <eek!> How many times do I see folks on the street zombied out with a gizmo held to their head or in front of their face virtually oblivious to the world around them. Folks even texting behind the wheel. THIS is progress? And with few exceptions I find the public at large is becoming more anti-social. Try saying hello to a stranger on the street and there's a good chance you're going to get looked at funny.
It's not even as social a world as it was 30 years ago. Customer service has gone to absolute sh~t. People don't make way or give up their seats for the elderly anymore. Everyone is in such a hurry (often to go nowhere) you practically have to wear cherry lights to cross the street so some dazed bonehead doesn't run you down in the crosswalk. This is not a more connected world... It's a more distracted world. Ooh, pretty lights, shiny objects, things that go beep and make funny noises. And with the collective wealth of the world at people's fingertips, why is it that fewer people seem to have any common sense? Sometimes it's maddening. How is having today's youth competing to see how stupid and inane they can be on video for hits and likes progress? It's not just that there seems to be a lack of common sense growing in society, but a full on rebellion against it. It's almost to the point where if I really didn't like a someone I could tell them they should never carry an umbrella during a lightning storm, knowing full well they would do it to spite me. Technology, as it has been implemented by society over the years, has made people busier, more distracted, more agitated, and more self-absorbed... Even in some cases
stupider. There is your progress.
- Cham
P.S. Where's my robot maid and flying car I was promised in the 60's?!
