Yesterday, I read an article in the UK's Daily Mail called 'Lonely life of the techno-addict as thousands go up to 48 hours without speaking to another human' (link). It is eye opening and sad at the same time. Social Media is supposed to bring us closer together, but instead seems to create a barrier instead. I don't blame technology, I blame the people who use the technology.
I do work from home some days, so can understand the 'digitally dominant' aspect of my life on those days. But I use technology as a tool to help me do my job from home, while it seems the people referred to in the article hide behind technology for aspects of their non-working life too.
Kinda reminds me of the Sandra Bullock movie 'The Web' where she doesn't leave her house and does everything online. After thinking about it some more, I wonder if these people would be the same people who, in the past, would just go to work and come home and never go out anyway.
So back to my reason for this post, I think that technology is great for keeping people connected, but should not be THE connection between people. Granted, I have many on-line conversations with people I have never actually met. But, I would never have met them in the first place, if not on-line as they live no where near me. I would love to meet face-to-face with them if the opportunity presented itself.
I use technology to keep in touch with friends and family, but I make certain that it is not the only means of communication with them. Do you feel that technology has replaced personal contact for you?
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