Sunday, January 17, 2010

Quote of the Day- Facebook and Intimacy

I thought this was an interesting quote. Any thoughts?

"Facebook is part of the larger electronic phenomenon deemed social networking, which includes text messaging, Twitter, email, blogging and so forth- all of which are said to herald a new day in human interaction. The let's stick to Facebook as the prime example and admit that, in the end, Facebook actually sabotages our ability to genuinly connect with others. ...While the popularity of Facebook facilitates broad connectivity, I believe it does so at the expense of intimacy. Intimacy is what we really want. But because we are lazy and fearful creatures, we'll settle for connectivity, because connectivity suggests intimacy but without the bother."
---Christianity Today senior managing editor Mark Galli

4 comments:

Kwame E. said...

Any thoughts? Sure, but primarily the thought of the word "nonsense."

By the way, is that an accurate quote? I see the word "genuinly" there.

D.B. said...

I think there have been some recent studies on the effect of FB, Twitter and the like (You can only post your thoughts in a very limited number of characters), on out attention span; along these lines. How valid? Couldn't tell you.

I think this is at least partly true in my life. I recently stopped going on FB and I am more likely to think through things instead of trying to limit myself by the number of characters...ie letters. FB does not really lend itself well for deep discussion, but rather the search for the clever, pithy statement.

And I would say I am pretty self aware of my thought processes (for better or worse)- :-)

Accurate? I don't know. Intersting? Sure. Proverbially true? I think so. Whether our connecting with others is lessoned that much. I think it all depends on the person.

Why would you say nonsense?

Kwame E. said...

<<FB does not really lend itself well for deep discussion, but rather the search for the clever, pithy statement.>>

I wouldn't know this firsthand, since I never visit. Still, there's a lot to be said about the ability to keep one's statements witty and short-and-to-the-point; it can teach you to cut all the crap out of one's thought processes and such.

<<Why would you say nonsense?>>

The whole quotation reads like mumbo-jumbo, ultimately-boils- down-to-nonsense philosophy and psychology that comes out of pop preachers and naive, neophyte lay philosophers in Christianity today.

Moreover, it seems like nonsense to me due to the fact that there is often no lack of intimacy on the Internet. For example, the Internet is notorious for people's holding no punches and telling others exactly what it is that they think about them; you often don't get this sort of thing in real life when you actually have to face strangers, acquaintances, friends, co-workers after you've just insulted them in the crudest manner possible.

Besides, people are still out there hanging out with friends on the weekends and such. Society is nowhere near the precipice of annihilation at the hands of Facebook.

D.B. said...

Moreover, it seems like nonsense to me due to the fact that there is often no lack of intimacy on the Internet. For example, the Internet is notorious for people's holding no punches and telling others exactly what it is that they think about them; you often don't get this sort of thing in real life when you actually have to face strangers, acquaintances, friends, co-workers after you've just insulted them in the crudest manner possible.

----That is a good point. But I'm not sure that simply telling folks off is conducive to intimacy. I am all for being able to be honest with folks, but just because we are free to say whatever we want doesn't mean that will always helps our relationships. Though I, generally, think that honesty and transparency is better than the truly superficial alternative.

Besides, people are still out there hanging out with friends on the weekends and such. Society is nowhere near the precipice of annihilation at the hands of Facebook.

---Probably not, but I think that some intimacy is lost when we spend more of our time dealing with people through media than face to face (this from a guy that prefers the cyberspace-But that is mostly because I am socially "special".)

I think the deeper subjects are hard to fit into a bite size point. And most folks are not really into thinking through things, particularly if they are difficult.

Good day,
Derrick