Out of touch Archbishop on Social networking or a truth?

[????]

...my view is completley out of touch....what a surprise. The internet can and does create new 'proper' relationships and communities...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8180115.stm

[OutOfFocus]

Thanks quids. I was thinking of starting the same topic ....

Speaking for myself, I have more friends as a result of use of the internet - especially people I have met through this forum and the associated drinks. However I am prob not a typical social networker. Most of my online interaction is with people that I have met in person, or at least it is on forums/ sites where I have met some of the people.

Trying to put myself into a timewarp and consider what it would be like to be a teenager now, I probably would have more interactions with other people than I did then. But this is hard to judge.

[louisiana]

Technology does not = behaviour. That is a ludicrously simplistic view of the world. Such technological determinism does not credit individuals with minds of their own.

You can't blame a technology. It's how people respond to it.

Shall we blame the penny post for social ills? Or the telephone? Electricity, perhaps? Or perhaps the car is responsible for much of what we see?

There will be people who use it one way, and people who use it another. There may be some trends, and these will change over time, but they will be responding to very complex webs of technologies, behaviours, laws, social norms, etc.

[immaterial]

Neither completely 'out of touch', but a 'truth' of sorts when he notes:

"Society was losing some of its ability to build communities through inter-personal communication, as the result of excessive use of texts and e-mails rather than face-to-face meetings or telephone conversations.

He said skills such as reading a person's mood and body language were in decline, and that exclusive use of electronic information had a "dehumanising" effect on community life.

These are valid points, bearing in mind Nichols is discussing, mainly, the youth constituency.

What are the effects of all these digital apparatuses on the social, behavioural and ethical development of our young citizens?

Even the ageing 'children' in my peer group are boastful of how many friends they 'have' within their networking sites; what must the pressures be like for kosher kids?

If I had a young child, I would be limiting computer usage in a quite draconian and monitoring fashion, and this runs contrary to my relatively libertarian, communist beliefs.

[HAL9000]

There may be a danger of confusing the message with the messenger here. If an eminent professor of psychology had spoken those words (as they well could have been), they would have been interpreted on an entirely different level.

I think his message is, largely, correct. Modern technology has tended to depersonalise social relationships, which is probably a bad thing when that represents a young person's only experience of life beyond the family.

[SteveT]

Anyone who has attended a forum drinks night,

or made a purchase,

received sound advice,

learned something useful,

hired a tradesman,

or sold an item,

may all thank Mark for starting this electronic club.

If this is the most convenient and successful way of meeting local neighbours for some of us, then so be it.

One can always brush up on meeting skills on drinks nights etc.

[????]

I suspect the Catholic church was making similar statements about printing at the time of William Laxton

[SeanMacGabhann]

But L isn't even CLOSE to C on the keyboard!

Good point tho quids..

[????]

My keyboard only has half the keys on it!!! Bet it never happened to Zillam Caxton ;-)

[louisiana]

Out of touch

Out of time