The Hidden Curse of the Internet - Essay Example

? The Hidden Curse of the Internet s Humans are social beings just like the ants or the bees, they may not be living in colonies or communicating through chemicals, but in case of humans, vocal communication is the main point of being a social being. In his article, “Isolated by the Internet”, Clifford Stoll, discusses in depth about the negative impact that the internet has had on our social and our personal lives. He does present a well written piece where he analyzes his perspective from all possible dimensions and even present a few positive effects of the internet. He uses extensive research and presents the works of eminent psychologists like Robert Krant and Vicki Lundmark and data from Universities to prove that the internet isolates a person gradually, breaking the person away from all social interactions and human bonds and capturing him in an online world, where everything may seem present but nothing is close to real. Anyone, who today depends on the internet for all forms of communication, interaction and work, may reject the claims made by the article even after statistical backups, but when you spare some thought to it, the fact gradually surfaces that, though the internet may have been a boon to humankind in ways uncountable, it carries a hidden curse with it- it cannot successfully replace human vocal communication or other forms of interactions and may be truly isolating a person from the real physical world. Stoll says that the use of internet communication retards the growth of our inter-personal communication skills.  “These electronic intermediaries dull our abilities to read each other’s gestures and facial expressions, to express our feelings, to strike up conversations with strangers, to craft stories, to tell jokes”, thus the very essence of vocal and physical communication loses in the war of “type-and-send” emotions. I feel that most of his points are valid. Internet communication can only convey words and never the feelings attached. When compared to face-to-face interactions or telephonic communication, internet surely fails as a tool to show emotions. The only forms of emotion that we may comprehend from such digital exchange of words are when “emoticons” are used, but that too, is not close to the reality. This slowly diminishes our ability to understand true emotions of people. For example there is difference between the feelings of being satisfied, happy, really happy and on-top of the world happiness, but the only emoticon that internet communication uses is a smiley, which fails to shows the degree of emotion. I also agree that our ability to kick-start a conversation with a stranger is also reduced; we may think that just because we are able to speak to completely unknown people over the net, I am completely sure that, it would have been impossible to do so in-person. For example, on Facebook I have been friends with a Japanese girl and an Indian girl who were completely strangers but if I were to meet them in person, I would not have that courage to start and continue long friendly conversations. Stoll argues that “lack of close social contact” depresses a person and changes their personality. He presents the work of psychologists from Carnegie Mellon University to show that “online activity resulted in increased loneliness.” He refers to the work of another psychologist, Kimberly Young where it is seen that people who are active online for increases number of hours feel odd, shy and out-of-place when having a face-to-face interaction with others. I believe that this point is completely valid. People who are shy and have no communication skills may feel that the internet helps them communicate and reveal the true them but this is completely wrong to me because I think that the internet helps them create a virtual world in their mind and makes them adapt to it. These internet communicators become good at making friends and interacting online, knowing that others cannot see or feel them but in reality when these same people are brought out in public, most of them will retract into their previous shy cocoon and fail to interact strongly with others. You may look at it as a dual face- what a person is and what a person wants to be. Online, these people put on a mask of what they wish they were or what they personally want to be, but in person they have to act as the people they truly are. I learnt this from my cousin’s behavior who is an avid user of Facebook. She loves making friends and talking to them throughout the day. But in reality she is not a talker at all and never likes going out. She feels more confident when she’s online. Yes, the internet may help people interact with people in the digital world but will never help them develop inter-personal communication skills that they truly need in this real world. Another valid point that Stoll presents is that internet is only used for day-to-day communication and will not replace physical communication. He provides us with an example where a participant “appreciated the e-mail correspondence she had with her college age daughter, yet noted when her daughter was homesick or depressed, she reverted to telephone calls to provide support.”My cousin brother lives in another country and since it is costly to make calls, we depend on the internet. However, the joy we feel when he calls and we get to hear him is nothing compared to the long chats we have online. Stoll also feels that face-to-face interactions helps form stronger bonds. Stoll’s article presents a study where we see that online relations never last long. I truly believe in this because when we build a bond online we cannot truly rely on the person. We only see what we are shown over the computer screen and we do not get a chance to analyze anything. Like everything else the internet too has two different sides and in “Isolated by the internet” we get to see the slightly bad one. Vocal communication is irreplaceable. Internet maybe a cheap and fast way to communicate but that is all it is. It is foolishness to think that such technology can take the place of face-to-face interaction because the sensation a simple hug or the touch of hand can give or the love that a mother feels when embracing her child cannot ever be felt over the internet. References Stoll, C. (1999). High-tech heretic: Why computers don't belong in the classroom and other reflections by a computer contrarian. New York: Doubleday. Read More