Some claim that the rapid rise of technology inhibits human interaction. Others claim that it contributes to the public sphere and its broadcasting. What do you think? Can both sides be correct?
In the spring of 2011, I was again living in New York City, on 49th Street at 2nd Ave. One Sunday, I enjoyed a perfect moment on a perfect day: the sun was bright, the temperature comfortable, and the breeze soothing. I was having a solo brunch at an outside table at Lasagna, the Italian restaurant on the corner of 2nd Ave. at 50th Street.
It was a relaxing moment, and it was even blissful. Suddenly, I got the impulse to take a photo.
Was my motivation to share the moment? Or was it an opportunity to fulfill a socially conditional need to share content to remain relevant in the eyes of friends and oneself?
In the past decade, we see people increasingly tweeting — and posting to Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, and so many other social media platforms that I can’t list them all here — everything they see and do. They take photos of the food they eat and make comments about everything! — from bitching about long lines at the supermarket to sharing jokes –spreading insights and sharing it all with friends and strangers alike.
The rapid rise of technology is transforming just about everything we do in our daily lives into content for the ever-growing public journal.
Is this a good thing or a debilitating one?
In Rolf Potts’s “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel” (which I reviewed and highly recommend), he notes that “any salty Vagabonder can tell you that true adventure is not an experience that can be captured on television or sold like a commodity.”
Does this suggest that by spending more time focused on capturing the moment rather than experiencing it, we’re devaluing the true sense of it, that we’ve become actors in our own formatted reality show?
Certainly when we stop to shoot photos or text or tweet something, we’re focused on that something if only for a few fleeting moments. Are we experiencing that moment with more attention than if we had just strolled by without an eye to capture things to share?
Life is short – Live it!
Or can the argument be made that by always keeping an eye out for content to capture, we often miss non-content that nevertheless could (or would’ve) provide an exquisite personal experience — not to be shared, but bathed in, alone?
However, at a party, a spontaneous photo shoot becomes a moment of impromptu fun and interaction in itself.
So, Perhaps the debate shouldn’t be framed around whether or not the rapid rise of technology and the public forum of social media inhibits human interaction.
It might be more productive to focus on how and when technology can best enhance life rather than distract from it.
Tags: Technology
Co-author of I'd Do It Again, he is a columnist/reporter for a variety of magazines in the areas of music, lifestyle, nightlife, travel and business. He also writes business documents and creates copy for websites.
Was my motivation to share the moment? Or was it an opportunity to fulfill a socially conditional need to share content to remain relevant in the eyes of friends and oneself?
In the past decade, we see people increasingly tweeting — and posting to Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, and so many other social media platforms that I can’t list them all here — everything they see and do. They take photos of the food they eat and make comments about everything! — from bitching about long lines at the supermarket to sharing jokes –spreading insights and sharing it all with friends and strangers alike.
The rapid rise of technology is transforming just about everything we do in our daily lives into content for the ever-growing public journal.
Is this a good thing or a debilitating one?
In Rolf Potts’s “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel” (which I reviewed and highly recommend), he notes that “any salty Vagabonder can tell you that true adventure is not an experience that can be captured on television or sold like a commodity.”
Does this suggest that by spending more time focused on capturing the moment rather than experiencing it, we’re devaluing the true sense of it, that we’ve become actors in our own formatted reality show?
Certainly when we stop to shoot photos or text or tweet something, we’re focused on that something if only for a few fleeting moments. Are we experiencing that moment with more attention than if we had just strolled by without an eye to capture things to share?
