Do Computers and Other Information Communication Technologies Increase or Decrease Social Connection - Essay Example

?Do Computers and Other Information Communication Technologies Increase or Decrease Social Connection? As we go about our daily lives in the 21st century, we find that technology has become a far more intrusive yet integral part of our daily lives. The technology exists supposedly to help make our lives easier by providing a faster and far simpler way of accomplishing tasks that manually would take us hours or days to finish. The gadgets that help us keep track of our lives, appointments, family, and friends are constantly in our hands, helping connect instantly with these people. But why does it seem like the more gadgets and technological innovations that we create to help us widen our social circle there are, the more restrictive and limited our social connection has become? This paper aims to look at the three facets that cover social connection in the 21st century and why, although we are all now interconnected, we are all still truly disconnected from one another. If one were to truly assess the role of technology in our lives, one needs to look no further than our Asian counterparts to see that the innovative gadgets are the reason that people feel a disconnection with the rest of the world. In Japan, there is a term known as Galapagos Syndrome, which for all intents and purposes means that the people are “fantastically evolved and divergent from their mainland cousins” (qtd. in Tabuchi). The Japanese use their cellular phones for everything from paying for purchases, surfing the Internet, making phone calls, and sending text messages. We will be hard pressed to find a more technologically connected society than the Japanese. However, it is this technological connection that has made them shy away from their counterparts across the pond. Their cellphones are designed to stand apart from the iPhones and tablet PCs of the world. These devices offer a broader spectrum of use and are far more advanced technically, and the manufacturers and users in America and Europe would find it hard to keep up and use these efficient multi-tasking cellphones in their own parts of the world. It is because of these facts that the Japanese cellphones have not only failed to go global in reach but have also limited their social interaction via technological gadgets to within their shores only. Their mobile phones may have a way of binding the Japanese together, but the same gadgets serve only a divisive purpose outside of their area of the world. Let us not forget that alongside the innovative Smart TV sets that are being marketed these days, the Smart House is also being developed in some corners of the world. Bill Gates, one of the most prolific technological inventors of the modern era, already claims to be living in a Smart House. Yet somehow that does not seem like a hopeful thought for most people. The more gadgets we create in the pursuit of excellence in entertainment, socializing, and the like, the more it seems like we are developing ways and means to eliminate social contact with other people while in the past, we thrived as society in terms of social interaction. This is evidenced by the proliferation of coffee machines these days. These machines have taken over the functions of your favorite coffee barista of yesteryear: Does your cappuccino-maker always make perfect cappuccinos? How much time does it take? Does your neighborhood cafe make perfect cappucinos? If you had the time where would you prefer to have your cappucino? Is your neighborhood cafe run by a computer? Would it be better if it was? Where did you meet your wife (husband, lover)? (Gold) Most people these days are so on the go that even the formerly trendy social interaction of going to the nearest Starbucks for that cup o' Joe in the morning has almost been totally banished to oblivion. These days, the barista machines exist to make cheaper and faster coffee for everyone. Just pop in a coffee table and hit the button, presto, coffee perfect-o! You are ready to jump into your car and start your day. You just skipped the need to interact with real people – first thing in the morning which normally would provide you with a much needed natural energy boost as you talk to your friends or co-workers who happen to be in the same line at the coffee shop. That is definitely another technological innovation that successfully helped isolate us from the others in our social circle. It is interesting to note that the largest technology driven base of social interaction in the 21st century, the internet has been “... used for both social and nonsocial purposes” (qtd. in Zhao). Described in this fashion, it becomes clear that technological advancements are all the same in basis and concept. The more social the purpose of the software or gadget, the less face to face interaction time people experience with each other. However, the lack of face-to-face interaction does not result in a more limited social circle for the internet users. Unlike the Galapagos Syndrome that has gripped the cellphone users of Japan, internet users actually find their social circles growing with the use of the Internet, albeit on a merely technological interactive scale. That is because the Internet is subdivided into three social subtypes: “(1) nonsocial use of the Internet for solitary activities, e.g., web use, (2) social use of the Internet for contact with the acquainted, e.g., email use, and (3) social use of the Internet for contact with the unacquainted, e.g., chat use” (Zhao). The Internet and the technologically advanced gadgets of our time have turned the art of social interaction into a gray area. While these all exist to help us become more interactive with one another and help us get to know and make friends on a far less complicated basis that is posed by face-to-face interaction, the reality of the situation is that we are more isolated than we have ever been in decades. The Internet and communication technologies both serve to increase and decrease our social circles for some reason. I know it seems complicated to understand and the concept may not be clear to some people for now, but that is the truth. We are all socially connected technologically but physically disconnected in real life. Works Cited Gold, Rich. “How Smart Does Your Bed Have to be, Before You are Afraid to Go to Sleep at Night?” Intelligent Environment. ARS Elektronika. n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. Zhao, Shanyang. “Do Internet Users Have More Social Ties? A Call for Differentiated Analysis of Internet Use”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Temple University. 2006. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. Tabuchi, Hikoro, “why Japan's Cellphones Haven't Gone Global”. The New York Times. 19 Jul. 2009. Web. 8 Dec, 2012. Read More