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you are here: > Self > 5.
Society and ME
| 5.26 |
General Social Trend #3:
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| The rise of remote and non-personal interaction | ||
| Sit on a train, or bus and you will see it. Watch any group of people outdoors and you’ll witness it- The phenomena of mobile text, email and phone calls. | ||
| There is conservatively estimated to be around 1.3 billion mobile phones (2005/2006) now in existence around the world- an unheralded technology adoption greater than the adoption of computers (578 million as at 2005) and second only to televisions as the most pervasive example of technology (1.6 billion televisions as at 2005). | ||
| While such technology represents a wonderful innovation for anytime communication, it also represents a major influence in the rise of remote and non-personal interaction. | ||
| Remote and non-personal interaction is when individuals choose to communicate via some intermediate device or forum rather than face to face. Email is a classic example of remote and non-personal interaction. A phone call is an example of remote interaction. | ||
| 5.26.1 | The dramatic rise of non-personal and remote interactions | |
| Since the early 1990’s, there has been a dramatic rise in the volume and use of non-personal and remote interactions thanks to the twin technologies of mobile phone devices and email/internet. This is especially the case amongst the “children of the internet age”, those born after 1975 who are or were in their teenage years during the birth of the internet and mobile phone devices. | ||
| These people are by far the heaviest users of remote and non-personal communication to the point that for many families, traditional dinners around a dinner table have become quarterly events, even when all members still live under the same roof. | ||
| 5.26.2 | The impact of non-personal and remote interactions | |
| The impact of non-personal and remote interaction is different depending upon whether you were born before, during or after the advent of the internet/mobile phone age. For older generations born before the advent of these technologies, they represent useful and secondary methods that in many cases enhance existing relationships. | ||
| However, for people born during and after the advent of these new technologies, the phone and email/internet represent primary methods and avenues of relationship formation, with face-to-face contact often being a secondary, or in some cases non-existent element of relationships. | ||
| The effect of such detachment from the reality of flesh and blood relationships is still a matter of fierce debate amongst “experts”. What is clear is that such dependence and even addiction to a remote world of relationships (such as MySpace) can lead to dissociative mental disorders where young people are cut-off from the normal network of support relationships that used to be a feature of living in a real-world community. | ||
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