busyScientists Fear Technology May Be Rewiring Our Brains
When the brain spends more time on technology-related tasks and less time exposed to other people, it drifts away from fundamental social skills like reading facial expressions during conversation, Small asserts.
So brain circuits involved in face-to-face contact can become weaker, he suggests. That may lead to social awkwardness, an inability to interpret nonverbal messages, isolation and less interest in traditional classroom learning.
... this really sounds like the anti-bookworm propaganda some teachers heaped on me when I was younger, because I preferred the company of books to that of the banal little beasts they called my classmates. And while I've got some nearby friends, frankly I prefer the company of online folks to most of the locals, because the Midwest is not exactly a hotbed of culture and brilliance. The scientists may have a point in there somewhere, but if they want to sell it to intellectuals, boy howdy they'd better find a better way to phrase it.
Re: Devil's Advocate -- but not Jaguar
December 10 2008, 15:39:52 UTC 12 years ago
I fear that the advent of being able to constantly connect to people who do think similarly to ourselves has left us with a far lower tolerance of those who think differently. We risk losing the skills to build bridges with people. Our real physical neighbors are far more likely to be the ones able to keep an eye on our houses while we're away or give us a literal hand when we need it.
Re: Devil's Advocate -- but not Jaguar
December 10 2008, 16:19:25 UTC 12 years ago Edited: December 10 2008, 16:20:47 UTC
Our real physical neighbors are far more likely to be the ones able to keep an eye on our houses while we're away or give us a literal hand when we need it.
Having just participated in two successful fund drives for people who needed help, and knowing people whose neighbors hate them for being, say, same-sex, interracial, or even intellectual couples, I'm not entirely convinced that my physical neighbors are more likely to be helpful than my online friends.
I fear that the advent of being able to constantly connect to people who do think similarly to ourselves has left us with a far lower tolerance of those who think differently.
I'm not convinced of this, either. I don't believe there was some time when people got along more harmoniously than now; my hypothesis is that there were more people who stayed silent, feeling themselves alone, who may speak up now because faster and easier communications (including the Internet) have helped them find those of like mind.
My perspective on this is shaped by having grown up in a fundamentalist church located within a large city. I could see that beyond the narrow confines of my home community that there was a wider and more diverse world out there; I could see within my home community how many of the people I knew were impelled by religion to despise people they interacted with every working day. And yet, as a fan of fantasy and science fiction, who hid such books under her bed because I was taught they were 'occult' literature, I felt terribly isolated. When one of my books led me to a fanclub for its author, the revelation that there were others who shared my interest, who thought the way I do, was beyond wonderful to me.
Being in interest-based communities online is that same experience, writ larger and moving at a much faster speed. My experience of this is merely based around hobbies; I've talked to people who had the same experience of finding the like-minded, of finding themselves not alone, when they had been the only agnostic surrounded by the devout, the seemingly only LGBT person in a community where the expectation was heterosexual and heteronormative. I've talked to people who felt their lives transformed by finding out they weren't the only one, and it seems to me that it wouldn't serve the causes of harmony or justice for people to be denied these places to belong.
If being able to "connect to people who do think similarly to ourselves" does lead to an inability to deal with those who think differently (as opposed to sharing strategies and experiences with the like-minded for dealing with disagreement -- but I digress) then the cure is rejecting that connection. I think that being deprived of fellows to share these interests with wouldn't force people to jettison them in favor of fitting in better with those physically around them, let alone forcing them to make alliances they otherwise would not have made with their neighbors; it might force them to suppress those interests, but I don't think that would actually increase people's happiness. In fact, I think it would make them on average sadder and lonelier.
Re: Devil's Advocate -- but not Jaguar
December 10 2008, 18:22:32 UTC 12 years ago
I'm not saying by any stretch that we should NOT have these broad social relationships online, just that we shouldn't neglect trying to build at least tolerant and helpful ones with those who are physically near to us.