Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Community - in a paragraph or two

I am only good for a paragraph or two. After that, I ramble. So, I hope I can make a point in a "paragraph or two".

(Definition of community: Human communities hinge on a degree of cohesiveness. Being part of a group, and feeling connected)

I believe that technology is advancing to the point whereby we are losing our sense of "community". We are losing courtesy, our ability to share feelings, and ideas. We are becoming distant and un-feeling. Airports are a good example. (flight attendants could probably verify what I am saying)

Example: In an airport today, I made the mistake of thinking someone was talking to me. He was looking right into my eyes, and speaking at me. I even said, "Excuse me, what did you say?" But, actually, he was talking to someone, hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away, through a device in his ear, commonly referred to as a "blue tooth device".

Years ago, there was a sense of common purpose between people. People in airports shared a "common experience". There were people talking to people, and maybe a book thrown in for good measure. Today, there is no "common experience". We all have our "blue tooth device" and "individual experiences". Consequently, we tend to tolerate each other less.

Before I've exceeded my paragraph limit, let's think about how the devices we use, make us feel like we need no one, only ourselves-who are less connected than we can imagine.

1 comment:

  1. I'm a new follower of your blog. Token Asian Friend gave me your blog address...I hope that is okay. If not, you know who to blame!!! Ha Ha. I have enjoyed the things I have read on your blog. Your thoughts have caused some deep thinking on my part. I have found myself in a similar situation...thinking someone was talking to me when in reality they were talking to the device in their ear. Your words are wise. Technology is causing us to lose our common courtesy. Technology is wonderful but we shouldn't allow it to conflict with our humanity.

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