NEAR...far

I find it interesting that with all of the ways that today’s technology allows for shrinking the world and bringing people closer together that we are growing more distant. Time was we would pick up the phone and talk with family and friends. We would stop by the house of loved ones and chat about current issues, make plans for Saturday night or just shoot the shit. If we had to contact a company, we would call them and talk person to person. We had personal interaction.

The technological advancements of the last few years are amazing. We can e-mail, text message, podcast, blog, Skype and video conference, to list but a few. I am the first to say that I love these options and embrace and encourage them. Where I feel we as a society fall short is we have come to depend on them as our main form of interaction rather than a way to compliment interaction. We e-mail rather than write a tactile thank you letter or note. We text rather than call. We press key after key rather than talk with customer service. We share the photos of last weekend’s party on MySpace rather than have some friends over to hang out and look at pictures. We create our avatar and battle evil in front of a PC rather than gather with friends for a night of good wine and Monopoly.

Do I think these forms of sharing and communications are bad? Not at all! I think they are all wonderful and feel that we should continue to make advances to take them to the next level. But I also feel like we need to focus on more physical interaction in society rather than virtual interaction. The planet is a big one and the technology should be a way to help us make it smaller – not more distant. What’s wrong with looking at digital pictures on a large LCD monitor surrounded by friends (and good wine)?