Friday, September 21, 2007

Giving up your social life for the web -- or reintegrating it into your web habit?

Slashdot reports that Americans are giving up their social life for the web, but how can you get more social than this?

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1 comment:

Spinuzzi said...

Hi, Clay! Ended up here through a weird trail searching out something for Drupal, through CultureCat, etc.
Answering the question: For those of you in your profession and circles I imagine that this is your ideal social life, and it has certainly become a major portion of my social interaction as of late. However, we must remember that for most people real-time face-to-face interaction is the best and truest (?) and most beneficial social interaction. Nuances in voice inflection and that slight raise of an eyebrow can deliver huge amounts of insight into the effect your communication is having on the other party (and visa-versa). Actually seeing the other person's eyes and realizing that they are focused on you for that moment is extremely important in forging relationships. Timing is also involved - subtle or not-so-subtle reactions at specific junctures in the communication reveal volumes about yourself and the other parties involved.
Many of us really like the fact that, online, we can backspace/rewrite, take more time to reflect, and make our case without interruption or redirection along a path we never intended to go. But in doing so we must never forget that using this medium we are terribly restricted and are, in fact, losing or missing huge amounts of information transfer that can only be accomplished face-to-face, all the way down to the warmth (or lack thereof) of a handshake or other touch. These are the things that make us/keep us human. So it is not about the quantity of interaction, but about the quality.
Later, bro!
--John Spinuzzi, remote-world.com

9:32 AM

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