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Ruminations on the Internet
Nov. 15th, 2009 12:18 amDear Internet,
Here is one for your late nighters.
Today, I was thinking about the recent outbreak of social networking websites. Livejournal. Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn.
They say that you can live in New York you're entire life and never meet your next door neighbor. I grew up in a small suburb, and you knew the name of everyone who lived around you: your neighbors, the teachers at the local schools, all the kids in the area, the name of the folks who sell you cigarettes, serve you food, take your groceries out to your car, and cut your hair. I still remember the name of the man who ran an arcade when I was 13.
Society's interactions have evolved from huts, to villages, to towns, to cities, to metropolises, and finally to the internet. With each progression leading to even less face to face contact with your fellow humans. In small towns with few people, you know the name of everyone. In large cities with hundreds of thousands of people, you cluster in small social groups.
With the advent of the internet, I believe that social networking websites are the result of a deep seeded need for community. Failing to know the name of the man who delivers your water, you default to reaching out to the online community in hope of satisfying the social interaction which everyone secretly craves. You make friends. You get to know their names, their likes, and their dislikes.
People begin to converge into online villages in a desperate attempt to reconnect with their lost sense of community. Even in the faceless virtual era, we cluster together in tight knit groups based on our hobbies and beliefs. We seek out like minded people because we cannot find them in our current setting.
We are the first generation which has embarked into a virtual space in order to find our community. Where as the previous generation dreamed of greener pastures in a different part of the world, we dream of a community which can never really exist.
Thoughts?
Truly,
Jorge Sidhu
Here is one for your late nighters.
Today, I was thinking about the recent outbreak of social networking websites. Livejournal. Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn.
They say that you can live in New York you're entire life and never meet your next door neighbor. I grew up in a small suburb, and you knew the name of everyone who lived around you: your neighbors, the teachers at the local schools, all the kids in the area, the name of the folks who sell you cigarettes, serve you food, take your groceries out to your car, and cut your hair. I still remember the name of the man who ran an arcade when I was 13.
Society's interactions have evolved from huts, to villages, to towns, to cities, to metropolises, and finally to the internet. With each progression leading to even less face to face contact with your fellow humans. In small towns with few people, you know the name of everyone. In large cities with hundreds of thousands of people, you cluster in small social groups.
With the advent of the internet, I believe that social networking websites are the result of a deep seeded need for community. Failing to know the name of the man who delivers your water, you default to reaching out to the online community in hope of satisfying the social interaction which everyone secretly craves. You make friends. You get to know their names, their likes, and their dislikes.
People begin to converge into online villages in a desperate attempt to reconnect with their lost sense of community. Even in the faceless virtual era, we cluster together in tight knit groups based on our hobbies and beliefs. We seek out like minded people because we cannot find them in our current setting.
We are the first generation which has embarked into a virtual space in order to find our community. Where as the previous generation dreamed of greener pastures in a different part of the world, we dream of a community which can never really exist.
Thoughts?
Truly,
Jorge Sidhu
