It is easy to identify, as the subject of this proves. I'm starting to show symptoms of it, and I apologize to my friends.

However, I'm not the only one who has fallen victim to this. Communicating via the web allows one to talk to folks you would otherwise never meet, and when you establish contact with people who share your interests, some strange results may occur.

I believe this is a quickly-spreading phenomenon, as everyday face-to-face social interaction becomes more rare, due to work & family commitments. I see the same people at my workplace every day, and the fact that so many families are two-income units (with both spouses having conflicting work schedules), it becomes more and more difficult to spend time as a family unit. For those who have children, it's much worse.

As a consequence, I find myself spending more time in communication with my friends in the various forums I belong to, and I'm starting to view this as a sort of world-wide mutual-support network.

Thus, in some weird paradox, the world is coming closer together, while families are becoming further disconnected. We are part of a new social revolution, with unknown consequences. Have any of you ever thought about this? The concept of OPD is an attempt at a joke involving the human condition, but what if it's something else--the possibility that the information age is indeed redefining the social fabric?








Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-02-02 01:21 by bassplayer617.

Are you drunk Bassplayer?

;-)

Cheers,
Wuudy

Media Guru Marshall McLuhan once predicted that the electronic
media would shrink the world into a "Global Village" where,
like in a small tribe, everyone would once again become
interconnected, and our communications quite immediate,
we could find out what's going on everywhere almost
instantaneously. The internet would seem to be
making that a cyber-reality.

I see this as supplementary tho, and not a substitute
for my our interpersonal relations with the people
I'm with everyday in the real world. There
really is no substitute for personal
connectedness, but it can be a nice,
and indeed even uselful compliment
to this, for fun, for work, for
dialogiung, for expanding our
horizons, lots of things.

Wuudy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you drunk Bassplayer?
>
> ;-)
>
> Wuudy

Not yet, but I'm working on it.

davido Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Media Guru Marshall McLuhan once predicted that
> the electronic
> media would shrink the world into a "Global
> Village" where,
> like in a small tribe, everyone would once again
> become
> interconnected, and our communications quite
> immediate,
> we could find out what's going on everywhere
> almost
> instantaneously. The internet would seem to be
> making that a cyber-reality.
>
> I see this as supplementary tho, and not a
> substitute
> for my our interpersonal relations with the
> people
> I'm with everyday in the real world. There
> really is no substitute for personal
> connectedness, but it can be a nice,
> and indeed even uselful compliment
> to this, for fun, for work, for
> dialogiung, for expanding our
> horizons, lots of things.
>
>


Yes, I agree, this is the positive view, and this sort of communication is at best a supplement, not a substitute, to one-on-one interaction.

Sure, it's a brave new cyber world and
not without it's pitfalls. Human nature
will of course work it's way in and provide
a few wiley twists, to exploit, to spy, to
manipulate. We have to take the good with the bad.
It's very post modern; deconstructs the old ways we
communicate, and interact, often rendering them redundant,
obsolete, and yet all the ins and outs of the new way
may not yet be readily self evident. I think it's
best to be enjoy but be aware of this.