Social networks make us more stupid
David Brin writes for EDGE on their 2008 question:
I certainly expected that, by now, online tools for conversation, work, collaboration and discourse would have become far more useful, sophisticated and effective than they currently are. I know I’m pretty well alone here, but all the glossy avatars and video and social network sites conceal a trivialization of interaction, dragging it down to the level of single-sentence grunts, flirtation and ROTFL [rolling on the floor laughing], at a time when we need discussion and argument to be more effective than ever.
I agree that social networks are trivialising communication, the quality of the human species which really sets us apart. Our ability to formulate ideas would be wasted without the ability to share them. It’s therefore unfortunate that the vast majority of FaceBook conversation seems to be in comparing trivia knowledge, attacking each other with virtual werewolves or using the platform to spread the latest YouTube hit about some girl baring her breasts on webcam when her dad walks in (and I certainly believe that each and every one of those was staged).
I ache for meaning in conversation. Some old fashioned conversation about The Selfish Gene or the Null Hypothesis of Alien Life. Conversation where my preconceptions might be challenged, firing my imagination and igniting something in my poor brain long thought dormant.
Funwall? Fuck off.
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
> Funwall? Fuck off.
Well put.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Thanks Walter.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:52 am
Yeah, well said. I’ve been worrying about this for a while.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:15 am
I signed up with Facebook, like so many others, out of curiosity. I find that it is handy just to know where your friends are. If they change jobs their email address would possibly change, so Facebook is a handy way of still keeping in touch.
Apart from that, it’s completely useless.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I use LinkedIn for keeping track of ex-colleagues (that’s what it was designed to do).
January 7th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Yup, agreed. The online world is great for many reasons, but I can’t see it replacing the hearty debate down the pub. For some things, people have to actually meet eachother, you know, like in the olden days.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
aha, in the Olden Days you wouldn’t have expected to stay as much in touch perhaps. The odd letter, the even odder phone call. Now we have Presence. And what FaceBook gives us is Presence with ubiquitous SPAM.