Technology has made the act of communication amazingly easy. A landline telephone was all I had as a child to communicate with someone when they were not present and it worked just fine. 3-way calling was about all I could handle as a pre-teen, what an amazing advance! Email made letter writing quicker and easier and cell phones can connect me to someone no matter where either one of us are. Skype is the equivalent of the big screen I used to see George Jetson talk to Mr. Spacely on! All of these tools have made communication easier and until recently, I didn't think it helped or harmed the quality. Further developments in digital and online communication (Text Messages, Facebook, Twitter, etc) have continued to make the passing of information easier, however, I feel not necessarily better.
I am finding that people are no longer able to have lengthy conversations or even short, yet important ones, in a face to face manner. Nearly every person I pass while walking or driving is hunched over, staring at some device, locked away in a personal bubble with speakers in their ears - I thought Bluetooth was bad, but iPhones come with two earbuds. The use of twitter and text messages has limited the amount we can say, forcing us to boil down our thoughts to fit - not a word limit - but a character limit.
I experience, on a daily basis, adults who will send out an easily (and most likely) ignored email or text in order to find someone to substitute for them at work, rather than make a phone call and talk to a person. I did a favor for a friend and I received a text message with a heartfelt Thank You later that evening. That is a nice gesture however I was with the person that very day! Why were they unable to simply look at me and say those words?
The 2009 movie Surrogates shows an extreme case of the type of isolation that I see developing in some of our digital youth. SPOILER ALERT: The clip I am showing, in essense, gives away the end of the movie so if you have not seen it you may wish to stop reading now. Surrogates is a movie set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots. As part of the plot, a virus is being sent out to disable all of the surrogate robots.
I am attaching a clip to the end of the movie. I apologize for the quality of the video. I am using what I assume is an illegal copy of the movie on You Tube (most of which have been taken down), however for some reason the copy that is dubbed in Hindi is still available. There is really no dialogue during the clip I wish you to view. Forward to the 7:28 mark and watch until 9:40.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=migR8oHSnZk
All of the surrogate robots were beautiful, ageless, and provided the ability for people to hide from the real world. Notice all of the pale, unkempt, robe-wrapped people stumbling out of their homes, unsure of when the last time they saw daylight was.
While this may be an extreme situation, I feel that more and more people are isolating themselves from others, communicating in little snippets of language, losing the ability to have a benign discussion (let alone an emotional one) while looking another person in the eye. Our many tech tools may make our ability to communicate easier, however, to preserve the ART of communication, they should not be used to replace real interactions.
I do not mean to be high up on my soap box here because I am often guilty of climbing into my own little bubble and hiding away. This is simply a rant on my recent observations.
Tara, I totally agree with your opening line “Tech makes communication easier, not better”. I personally believe balance is everything. Have you heard people say “things used to be less complicated or we used to have more time to do things like that” Yes, technology over time makes our work “easier and less complicated” and more connected with others but this can create an unhealthy 24/7 connection creating less time to do the things we used to do. I feel technology is impacting on our social interaction skills and at times can create more problems. I don’t know if anyone has had an e-mail altercation where someone miss read what you wrote and then you ended up spending hours trying to re-explain what you meant and “fixing” hurt feelings or a problem that occurred because of it. This unfortunately has happened to me so while technology can make communication easier it is truly not always better! This is my “soapbox” stance; I think people are less “friendly” and “socially” involved when they are connected. My husband said he read an article about a person who walked off a bridge because they were texting and not paying attention to where they were going. That is pretty sad if you ask me and think about what she really missed!!! In the words of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it."
ReplyDeleteGreat post!!
Thank you, Melissa
I think you have a valid point. I know that I too have been guilty of it; I was walking on campus and there was someone I did not want to talk to so I stuck my headphones in and stuck my face to the screen of my phone…Unfortunately I didn’t have battery power at the time, but at least I got out of the interaction I didn’t want to face! I was out to dinner the other day and the table next to us was a husband and wife with their three daughters. The daughters talked to one another but neither the husband nor the wife spoke to them or each other. The husband was talking on his phone from the moment they sat down until the bill came. I honestly do think that technology provides helps us avoid having face to face interactions. I also think that, as Melissa states, technological interactions can easily be misconstrued and misinterpreted. It is virtually impossible to tell a person’s tone in an email or text. I think this is why it is important to maintain a healthy balance in our classrooms. We need to use technology in the classroom and emphasis its importance. At the same time, however, we also need to provide authentic face to face reactions for our students to participate in; for example, debates, class and partner discussions, even sharing our joys and concerns with each other. We must establish the balance and encourage our students to consider this balance in their lives outside the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThat movie is so scary to me just because it sometimes feels like thats the direction we are headed. I for one don't enjoy online classes because I feel like I am talking with a stranger without a face or emotions. I remember in high school when text-message break ups where hilarious to people. If you wanted to end your relationship, you sent a text; if you wanted to curse off your friend, you sent a text; if you wanted to say happy birthday, you sent a text. Now its not hilarious, its most common.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, you are right it is easier to communicate, but its not a substitute for all social situations. It may help the socially impaired cross over into the social world he or she does not have the confidence to address OR it just might do the opposite and make the easiness of it all lead to laziness. Technology can do plenty of good, but just as another post I read ( I believe Steve's), adults as well as children need to learn how to appreciate it, not abuse it.