Friends By Text Message

As someone in my early 40’s I consider myself quite tech savvy and fairly up to date on the latest gadgets and gizmo's that propel this modern society. Having grown up in the 70’s and 80’s I’ve seen a lot of changes and advancements in technology over the years. I can’t help but wonder though if these innovations have hurt us in some way

Walking around town I’ve noticed more and more people, mostly 45 and under in age, becoming less social or friendly with their fellow man. Everything seems so impersonal. Frequently I’ll see people passing each other without so much as a friendly nod. The basis for this lack of cordial behaviour is most likely linked to technology.

These people are spending more time walking and texting or wearing earphones for their iPods and listening to music. Others have Bluetooth earpieces plugged into their heads and they’re talking on their mobile phones.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have any friends or anything important to say but I rarely use my mobile phone anymore and I never text. I think texting is ridiculous. If you want to have a conversation then just call that person or better yet, go meet them some place and talk face to face. If your only option is to text, then chances are you shouldn’t be doing it any way.

Do kids still call each other at home on the phone and go out and play sports? Road hockey games or football and basketball games used to be quite common in my neighbourhood growing up. I had a group of friends and we’d get together all of the time to play outside. I rarely see that anymore.

OK, I’ll admit there was a short period in the mid-80s when I went through a Dungeons and Dragons phase. We spent countless hours in a buddy’s basement casting spells and defeating trolls with our hit points and maces. But once my grades slipped, mom and dad put a stop to that.

Perhaps it’s just me but the whole world seems to be more antisocial. As an example, I have almost 500 friends on Facebook. Some of those are close friends from over the years, others are school friends and acquaintances, past co-workers and a myriad of other family and other folks I know to varying degrees. Of those 500 friends, I might run into or see a handful of them on a regular basis and another 20 I will run into throughout the year.

I’m not saying Internet sites like Facebook are bad. In fact, I think it’s great because without it I might never have made contact with some people I lost track of that I really wanted to touch base with again. I had some great friends in college that I never saw after graduation but thanks to social networking I was able to talk with them again some 20 years later.

These sites serve a purpose but I think they can also discourage real face to face communication thanks to the ease of being able to sit at a computer and chat rather than interact in person.

I’m just as guilty at times as everyone else who falls into this anti-social, Internet fuelled, technology loaded culture. I’d be lost without my computer, Internet, email, iPod Touch and mobile phone. I’ve become dependant on it and admit I get the shakes if I’m away from it all for too long. My computer is like the Mother Ship calling me home at times.

I suppose everything has its place and purpose but as good as new technology can be I question sometimes if we’re all turning into a horde of robots losing the capacity to interact with the other robots.