After reading the extract from David Weinberger’s Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web, I began to consider whether the web makes me more or less social. This question can be difficult to answer, considering I have had access to the web for as long as I can remember, so it is hard for me to compare how social I was/would be without the web.
The first thing that came to mind when considering my social behaviour on the internet was how it allows me to communicate with friends and family in all corners of the globe. My two closest friends growing up now live in London and Sydney, and being from Queensland, I still keep in contact with a large number of people who live interstate. Without the web, I would probably have no idea what these people were up to and would probably fall out of contact with most of them. Perhaps I would pick up the phone from time to time and call some of my closest friends but I certainly wouldn’t have the same level of interaction with them that I have at the moment.
I then began to consider whether my interaction with distant friends online prevents me from interacting with those nearer to me, who I could socialise with in person. Yes probably. I still spend a lot of time communicating online with those friends who live in the same area as me.
The main question to consider is whether or not socialising online can act as a suitable replacement for, or can be seen as equal to, socialising in person. Many people would argue that it doesn’t, and that interacting with other people largely in an online platform is causing young people to lack certain social skills that come with face-to-face interaction. Being able to communicate online is a wonderful benefit and offers endless opportunities, but it is in no way the same as being able to talk to someone in person.
There needs to be a balance. People need both the skills to interact with other people face-to-face — to be able to hold a conversation, look people in the eye, read body language and conversational cues and speak in a clear, confident manner — but being able to make use of all the online tools and technology available is just as important in today’s society. You see the extremes at both ends of the scale. You may talk to teenagers who spend all their time online, and have an expansive knowledge of the platform and technology, but can’t hold a conversation when it comes time to sit for a job interview. You will also meet older people who are incredibly well spoken but have absolutely no idea how to search for something on Google or send a text message.
Extract from: Weinberger, D. Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web. New York: Perseus Books, 2002. Print.
