The fact that our world has become this technologically advanced still baffles me. I can’t seem to process how we are able to video chat and communicate with someone halfway across the world. But you know what… I don’t care because I love the fact that we now have different options for communicating. Personally, I think my face-to-face interaction has definitely improved due to the spread of technology. For example if I met someone at a party that I thought was super chill, I could just find them on facebook and chat with them online so that we’re somewhat more comfortable with each other the next time we meet up. And it sounds pretty creepy but if you do a little research on someone’s profile, it gives you a lot more things to talk about in person because you’ll get a feel of what their likes and dislikes are. I mean, I’d rather get to know someone impersonally (through facebook or texting) first before actually meeting up with them in person and I love that technology allows me to do that. However, this may not be the same case for everybody. I know people who only rely on the internet to meet new people and end up losing the ability to make face-to-face interactions. It’s pretty depressing to see what the internet does to some people when they start to get addicted to it and spend all of their time on it. I think my cousin became a little socially awkward due to the fact that he tweaks on his computer all day long. He literally can’t go a few hours without it and I feel like he’s trapped in this virtual world with only “online friends”.
This was a long time ago, but I actually met my first boyfriend online. Yeah, it sounds pretty lame and I admit to getting a lot of shit for it, but it’s not something I regret doing. I did think it was a little weird to get a friend request on myspace from some random dude, but right when we started chatting we both sensed the fact that we clicked. Although it didn’t end up working out romantically, he’s still one of my really good friends today and I’m so thankful to have met him (even if it was through the internet). I’ve never really had any experience with online dating sites, but I’m sure they’re really useful for those who can’t find the time to go out and meet new people. I honestly do think that the internet is a viable way to create relationships, but I also think it’s essential for people to have face-to-face interaction in order to maintain the relationship. It’s possible to connect with someone online, but I feel like there’s only a certain extent to which you can do so due to trust issues and stuff like that. I mean you don’t really know who you’re talking to online unless you see for yourself. I don’t think people have too many problems with balancing virtual relationships with their everyday relationships. I think most of people’s virtual relationships go hand-in-hand with their everyday relationships because usually people are just interacting online to keep in contact with people (or for my age group at least). A lot of my friends think it’s really creepy to get friend requests from people they don’t know.
I do think it’ll be cool to create real public spheres for people to interact, but by the way our society is going now, I don’t think a lot of people will be in favor for it. I mean who really wants to go out and meet people in a certain area at a certain time of the day to discuss political and social issues when they can just do it online in their own homes, on their own time. I think the internet is popular due to the convenience factor behind it and I feel as if people are eating this internet shit up. You no longer have to reach for your dictionary to search for the definition of a word because you can just look it up online. If you need a second opinion about something, simply type it into google and a whole bunch of discussions forums will probably pop up. If you missed an episode of your favorite television show, I’m sure there’s a website you can easily download it from. And seriously though, who would want to pay for telephone bills when video chatting is much more efficient? Honestly, I kind of like where we’re heading and I’m excited to see what more is in store for technology. Perhaps the black box fallacy is somewhat true?
I really liked reading your blog because I was able to relate to a lot of things you talked about. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only facebook user with creeper tendencies :) It's sometimes awkward when you meet someone in real life and realize that you know something about them previously because you saw it on their facebook page. I think everything with facebook is going to end up getting integrated in our society and everyday talk. Whenever I'm walking to class, I can hear people talking about things they discovered on facebook. "Did you see what she wrote on his wall?" "Did you see what picture she put up?" etc....
ReplyDeletelike your blog because it is so real! I have strengthened many of my relationships through online communication and met new people through mutual friends. It was nice to be able to think about what was saying to a person without having that face-to-face interaction especially if I was intimidated by them. I could also figure out by our online conversation if I wanted to pursue them and have more face-to-face interaction. This usually prevents awkward encounters because we have can go off our conversations we have touched on online and avoid going on dates with people who we know we would not have a good conversation with.
ReplyDeleteYou stated that some of your friends think its creepy when they receive a request from someone they do not know. I personally am flattered if someone I do not know friends me especially if we have mutual friends in common. It makes me feel that they want to see what is going on in my life and are interested in my social network presence. I like to be friends with people who have the same name as me or people from different countries so I can gain some of their perspective of the world.