Online Relationships: Connected but Isolated
Technological advances have revolutionized how we communicate with each other. They have opened a new medium for communication; one for which physical distance does not matter. The emergence of email, social media networks, online chat rooms and blogs make it possible to connect with people from all parts of the world with a simple touch of a screen. Thus, the Internet enables us to establish all kinds of online relationships; we can make friends online, meet people to date, study and work and even do business online. Online relationships are becoming more common each day and, in some cases, are starting to replace face to face interaction. Although there is a general consensus about the many advantages …show more content…
Firstly, the Internet foments distraction. The ease of being online anytime, anywhere constantly distracts us from our daily activities. Nowadays, we spend most of our time online; whether is reading, studying, shopping or chatting with friends. Christine Rosen, in her article In the Beginning was the Word, explains the impact of new technologies in the future of print books and, ultimately, in our lives. She argues, “As the word migrates from printed page to pixelated screen, so too do more of our daily activities” (Rosen 205). The Internet has become a fundamental and necessary part of our lives. Most of us check our email every 10 minutes, or chat while watching a movie or having dinner with friends. Multitasking has emerged as a consequence of wanting to be online and “in contact with the world” at all times. Instead of employing the Internet to our advantage, we have become its slaves. As she puts it, “We live in a world of continuous partial attention, one that prizes speed and brandishes the false promise of multitasking as a solution to our time management skills” (Rosen …show more content…
The advantages of these applications are extensive- most of them are free, and are relatively easy to use. However, online communication is fundamentally different from face to face interaction. Face to face communication allows people to grasp information about personalities thanks to paralinguistic features, such as face expressions, eye contact and body movements, which hardly exist in Internet communication. In The Other Side of E-Mail, Robert Kuttner stresses on the fact that although E-mail and online, instant communication have many advantages, they also have a “dark side” (243). As he puts it: “When talking to someone, you pay attention to tonality…But e-mail is tone-deaf and all too instant. It is ephemeral, yet irrevocable” (Kuttner 243). Online communication can cause problems precisely because it is instant and easy to
Technological advances have revolutionized how we communicate with each other. They have opened a new medium for communication; one for which physical distance does not matter. The emergence of email, social media networks, online chat rooms and blogs make it possible to connect with people from all parts of the world with a simple touch of a screen. Thus, the Internet enables us to establish all kinds of online relationships; we can make friends online, meet people to date, study and work and even do business online. Online relationships are becoming more common each day and, in some cases, are starting to replace face to face interaction. Although there is a general consensus about the many advantages …show more content…
Firstly, the Internet foments distraction. The ease of being online anytime, anywhere constantly distracts us from our daily activities. Nowadays, we spend most of our time online; whether is reading, studying, shopping or chatting with friends. Christine Rosen, in her article In the Beginning was the Word, explains the impact of new technologies in the future of print books and, ultimately, in our lives. She argues, “As the word migrates from printed page to pixelated screen, so too do more of our daily activities” (Rosen 205). The Internet has become a fundamental and necessary part of our lives. Most of us check our email every 10 minutes, or chat while watching a movie or having dinner with friends. Multitasking has emerged as a consequence of wanting to be online and “in contact with the world” at all times. Instead of employing the Internet to our advantage, we have become its slaves. As she puts it, “We live in a world of continuous partial attention, one that prizes speed and brandishes the false promise of multitasking as a solution to our time management skills” (Rosen …show more content…
The advantages of these applications are extensive- most of them are free, and are relatively easy to use. However, online communication is fundamentally different from face to face interaction. Face to face communication allows people to grasp information about personalities thanks to paralinguistic features, such as face expressions, eye contact and body movements, which hardly exist in Internet communication. In The Other Side of E-Mail, Robert Kuttner stresses on the fact that although E-mail and online, instant communication have many advantages, they also have a “dark side” (243). As he puts it: “When talking to someone, you pay attention to tonality…But e-mail is tone-deaf and all too instant. It is ephemeral, yet irrevocable” (Kuttner 243). Online communication can cause problems precisely because it is instant and easy to