I'm old fashioned. I grew up in an era when Thanksgiving dinner was a time not only for food but also for lively family conversations and catching up; but not today in the age of the Internet.
At a recent Thanksgiving gathering, I noticed the younger people were more engrossed in their computers, iPhones, and TV (a Roku device streaming Netflix) than in conversation.
I'll make a rough guess, probably based more on perception than reality, that of the six hours of hanging out before we sat down for dinner, the amount of time spent on a computer, mobile phone, or watching TV was twice the time spent in conversation.
Was this self-absorption, narcissism, social anxiety, or the age of the Internet? I suspect the major culprit was the Internet, especially with those under 35 in the assembled clan.
I suspect that the younger people have, as Ken Auletta says in his book of the same name, been Googled. If they are curious about things and people, they use Google to get the answer, which is not necessarily an evil thing in itself, or, presumably, Google wouldn't do it.
The problem is that the instant availability and accessibility of the world's information has reduced the compulsion or desire, it appears, for social interaction. The Internet has isolated people in their own private worlds, thus eliminating the need for social exchanges in person because Facebook does it much more efficiently and, more importantly, emotionlessly.
Young people tend to text, Tweet, or Facebook with each other instead of talking face to face or even over the phone (mobile, of course), I'm guessing because there is less expenditure of emotion, and fewer honest feeling exchanged. Like with a computer or iPhone, there's no emotion, no feeling involved, and young people are used to interacting without their emotions being engaged, it seems. They have never seen a computer or iPone cry or laugh or fall in love or get angry; these devices just give up all the information in the world, but no feelings.
Also, as I wrote in a previous blog, "We tend to believe that lots of information is good for a democratic society, and in theory it is. However, in practice there is now so much information (content) available that it is possible by means of selective searches and selective perception to create an echo chamber so that opposing sounds are never heard."
Not only are opposing sounds never heard, but also information that is not in our wheelhouse of immediate and intense interest is not searched for or noticed, thus increasing our narrowing polarization and isolation.
When I mentioned my observations about the Thanksgiving gathering to my good friend, Paul Talbot, he said, "If I had opened a computer, turned on the TV set, or looked at my cell phone during a family gathering my mom would have thrown me out of the house."
If we had been at Paul's mother's house yesterday, all of us (including me) would have been outside and hungry -- and deservedly so.
This incident has been a good reminder to me to shut down my Internet devices when I'm with other people and to interact -- to be curious and care about who other people are and how they feel. After all, I'm not an emotionless computer connected to the internet, or am I?
Follow Charles Warner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CHWarner
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The internet and all of its subsequent technologi
Although our addiction to technology may not be entirely positive, I think it is a mistake, (and a border-lin
The internet has undoubtabl
I agree that the people of my age, (18-24), are highly reliant upon the faster means of communicat
As I'm sure you recall from your own youth, old(er) people can be very boring to us Young-in's
(CONTINUED
However, my rule with my own family is knock off the twittering
The younger generation do get it and comply.
Catching up = gossip wich is hard to say in front of the dinner guests.
I did the family thing for years, the women cooked, cleaned, served, washed dishes, packaged food, and put up with loud mouth men who sat on their asses, stuffed their faces, watched football, and some drank too much.
To get through those days I escaped in the kitchen working my ass off. No more family, I'm older and wiser and none of those a holes are going to use me as a chump ever again.
Screw you and your social family exchange. If you have a good family, you are lucky.
Kids will find ways of dealing with situations they would like to avoid. When I was a kid at family functions we went outside and listened to ROCK and ROLL.
I lived in five different States in twenty years because of job promotions and tranfers. The only social exchange I got was from people at work and they hated me for taking a position they wanted.
I wish I had the internet back in those days.
I made a good life/home for myself where I bred, raised, trained and raced horses. Their racing days are over and I kept the horses. They are now my big spoiled doggies along with over twenty stray cats and kittens people dumped in my driveway.
I travel over 200 miles each day to work in the city, I cook, clean, do all the domestic bs and clean stalls. The only time I have for social exchange is when I'm traveling with people from the job. It can get a little boring.
This Thanksgivi
Isolated: yes. Social Exchange: I will zip through the HuffPost news and blogs and can't wait to read the comments from the fine people who are wiling to give up their time to enlighten me and others.