This is a really good article, and I'm glad you're writing about this stuff.
I know this article is oriented towards women but I think the issues are very similar for men. For me, the hardest thing has been that I find it very hard to maintain enough face-to-face contact with people in modern society...it started when I graduated from college. I'm not sure what the culprit has been, but some factors I've thought about have been that our society is so dependent on cars, people tend to work long hours, and American society doesn't seem to value common spaces where it's possible to meet people or socialize.
Take coffee shops, for example. A lot of them seem to function more as mobile offices nowadays...striking up conversations with strangers is rare.
I wish I could follow the advice in this article but I am not sure I can. My work requires me to use the internet a lot...and I also use the internet to stay in touch with many of my friends, and as a way to network to meet new people both in a business and personal setting. I don't like it at all, but I feel more than a bit trapped.
When I step back from the internet, it's really hard to find the kinds of social institutions out there for me to form the sorts of bonds with people and with society that I'd like to. I am forced into using the internet because it's often one of the only things out there.
I think one solution is for people who run websites to be conscious in their use of the internet to encourage people to get together face-to-face, rather than to "suck people in" to spend more and more time online. For example, I use a website eBird which encourages people to enter data from birdwatching to further the purpose of science. This is a great website because it is based first and foremost on real-world (and outdoor!) activity. It can't "suck you in" because everything on the site is about stuff that is happening out in the real world, and the only way to use the site is to go out into the world. I think we need more sites like this!
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This is a really good article, and I'm glad you're writing about this stuff.
I know this article is oriented towards women but I think the issues are very similar for men. For me, the hardest thing has been that I find it very hard to maintain enough face-to-face contact with people in modern society...it started when I graduated from college. I'm not sure what the culprit has been, but some factors I've thought about have been that our society is so dependent on cars, people tend to work long hours, and American society doesn't seem to value common spaces where it's possible to meet people or socialize.
Take coffee shops, for example. A lot of them seem to function more as mobile offices nowadays...striking up conversations with strangers is rare.
I wish I could follow the advice in this article but I am not sure I can. My work requires me to use the internet a lot...and I also use the internet to stay in touch with many of my friends, and as a way to network to meet new people both in a business and personal setting. I don't like it at all, but I feel more than a bit trapped.
When I step back from the internet, it's really hard to find the kinds of social institutions out there for me to form the sorts of bonds with people and with society that I'd like to. I am forced into using the internet because it's often one of the only things out there.
I think one solution is for people who run websites to be conscious in their use of the internet to encourage people to get together face-to-face, rather than to "suck people in" to spend more and more time online. For example, I use a website eBird which encourages people to enter data from birdwatching to further the purpose of science. This is a great website because it is based first and foremost on real-world (and outdoor!) activity. It can't "suck you in" because everything on the site is about stuff that is happening out in the real world, and the only way to use the site is to go out into the world. I think we need more sites like this!
Thanks again for the article!
January 27, 2010 - 2:50pmThis Comment
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