Has technology made loneliness more common?

[TheSolitaryMan]

This is a topic I think about a lot. There was a thread on FB, but I wanted to encompass all forms of technology and websites, phones, Twitter, Myspace, etc. etc. if it's too similar I don't mind it being closed, I'll go post in the FB bit instead

Anyway!

What do you think of the changes to society mobile phones, "new" websites and blogging services have made? Do you think they've made communication easier or harder?

I personally think that despite all the rapid information systems at our fingertips today, some people seem to be losing the ability to communicate meaningfully. Phones, in particular, I really hate.

My phone is a cheapo Nokia. It does calls, texts and has a menu that's easy to read. That's about it. I never use it to go online, send fancy voicemails or use programs (or, as such things are now obnoxiously touted everywhere, "apps").

Because of this, I spend only a small amount of time using it. However, practically everyone I know has a £300+ phone and spend seemingly all their time totally glued to it.

My cousin, for example, used to be really chatty and interesting to have around. Now she just cannot put her iPhone down, and it's just boring and one-sided when trying to have a conversation. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's immensely rude to just continue texting when someone talks to you? I don't know.

It's at the point where the family will be watching a movie or eating a meal together and she'll be playing Angry Birds or texting her boyfriend through the whole thing.

Similarly, it's almost impossible to talk to strangers on trains or buses because they can't engage in small talk anymore. It's all about the plastic polymer piece of wizardry they have irradiating their brain. Sigh.

Twitter...yes, another dubious (in my view) piece of "communication" tech. I have a Twitter account, though I hardly use it. Why is it neccessary to share everything about your life minute-by-minute on a website?

I know a friend who posts the most tasteless tweets (there have been several lows repeated over and over, such as: "Having sex with my bf, we just started!" and "We did it for x amount of time!"), as a result I no longer try to keep up with what's going on with her because it just seems totally repulsive to post stuff like that. Regardless, those kind of posts got a lot of replies and approving retweets.

Similarly, everyone seems to post crap like "Eating toast for breakfast right now - posted 1 second ago". Does anyone care? Why are people posting stuff like this from their phone while I'm talking to them?

Then there's all the stuff that people do to cultivate their own "image". All those silly posey photos and fake pictures that are carefully uploaded to create a careful facade of "coolness" or whatever...urgh.

I personally think that real communication is getting harder and harder, despite all these so-called "advances" in "bringing people together".

What's your view?

 

[LostInside]

Your post reminded me of this funny comic

http://failbook.failblog.org/2011/08/29/funny-facebook-fails-birthdays-then-and-now/

It was just posted at failblog

 

[cumulus.james]

Kind of yes. Supermarkets have a lot of blame here. You have to remember you HAD to go to the pub if you wanted a drink years ago, and you HAD to go to the grocers if yo wanted vegetables or the butchers if you wanted meat and people would meet and talk at these places. It started with the supermarket. But then Nightclubs got bigger and bigger and by the 1990's you were looking at 2000 person capacity at nightclubs, in an ocean of 2000 people crammed into a box playing deafening music how are your supposed to get to know anyone? Then chat services like MSN and profile sites came about and all of a sudden you don't need to leave your hose to talk to someone. That worked for a while. But you kind of have to know someone to chat to them on these things now. If I see a person I like the look of on a Facebook or whatever and I try to talk to them I will be treated with suspicion and slight repulsion, unless I happen to be very attractive to that person.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

Sitting in front of a screen all day in a room..that's the reality of it.

Or out in public still looking at a screen of whatever gadget you have.
twit..twit or booking it

Still not physically interacting with people.

Still reactive to life...waiting for the right message or words of others to trigger the feeling of being OK.
Giving up your powers and life over to other poeple, places and THINGS. Blaming others.

Its too simple. We all have happy thoughts and happy feelings inside of us already.
We can trigger those feelings anytime we chose too...Being proactive and taking
control of our own thoughts and feelings. We act/reacte to our feelings.
Its being responsible and free at the core of ourselves.