Technology...

It's interesting how things happen at the same time...
Today as Hubby posted a rant about technology I also was part of a conversation at school about the exact same thing.

A couple of students were meeting with a co-worker and friend of mine who teaches the Sociology, anthropology and psychology course. One student was unsure of a thesis for their ISU essay, and they were brainstorming ideas for it. The Topic: Dysfunctional families in the future. My co-worker asked if I had any ideas for things that would affect families in the future IE: Something that will cause dysfunctional families. The first thing that came to mind.... Technology and the net.

Yes, its a wide wonderful world of information and entertainment, but I can see it causing more dysfunction in society as time goes on. (and it does)
The big reason is this... As much as technology is helping make the world a smaller and more accessible place (for example, I can keep in touch with my friend in another province easily and for no cost (other than my normal internet cost) which is something I wouldnt be able to do as easily without the net).
However, it also changes the way people communicate. And with the younger generations (listen to me, I sound so old) I find they are losing the ability to communicate effectively. Back in the day (oh gosh, I sound like my mother) if I wanted to see / talk to a friend, I walked down the street, around the block, and knocked on their door and asked to see them or play with them... and we then socialized face to face and learned how to communicate and deal with people, with disagreements and with conflict, while also learning respect, sharing, manners etc.

Today, when a 13 year old wants to talk to a friend, theres no communication. Its a facebook message or a text message "o hai wtf u doin 2day? ttyl gtg" (ok that was painful to type)
I did a survey on my grade 10 students in sept and sure enough, many of them rely on facebook, text messages and msn to communicate with friends and family.

And so here is where the dysfunction starts. There is no face to face communiction. No ability to see a face, to get feedback, to see the reaction on peoples face, to read finer social cues that body language and facial expressions convey in a way that text messages never will. A whole generation is growing up without those abilties being reinforced every day. Some day, when those people are in real relationships, living day in and day out with someone in a family environment (traditional family, blended family, same sex family, etc, it matters not to me) they will be unable to deal with the daily interactions between spouses, children, co-workers, etc. Their ability to resolve conflicts and deal effectively with conflict and communication isn't developed the way it was when I was young, when the everyday interactions you had were always face to face. They won't have that knowledge and experience as a child/young person and will be totally disconnected from the world of relationships and communication. This will add to the breakdown of families in society that we already see every day, adding to the stress that accompanies any close intimate relationship (married or not, there are always conflicts to overcome).

Yes I realize the slight irony in my rant, being over the internet and in a medium where you cannot see my face, cannot tell if I'm serious or sarcastic. In some ways I am dead serious. I see students who are unable to deal with face to face communication, who dont read social cues. Still others dont understand the need for manners and respect. Its a vicious cycle that continues, as young people can bury themselves in technology and cyberspace.

On the otherhand, I also realize that I am perhaps going overboard with the analysis here. Still, it makes for a good thesis for sociology. I'm excited to actually see this essay come to fruition (if it does) and I will be bugging my co-worker to see the essay once it is handed in!