Tacit Generation
When I first heard of the social networking site, Facebook.com, I thought – “Great, just another way to collect loose associations – my friends are now baseball cards.” I could write twenty blogs on this topic. Many of my friends were interested in engaging with this media (they are early adopters, I suppose), but I just felt frustrated. (Partly because I’m somewhat introverted and I value loyal relationships… even when it gets difficult, and the whole machine seemed to be straight from the CIA and everyone reads / has access to what everyone writes, which makes it shallow at best.)
At the time, I thought these networking sites would become a substitute for good old-fashioned relationship… You know, the old pastime of face-to-face conversations with multi-sensory communication. As the years went by, I managed to avoid signing up to any social networking sites, until after I graduated, and my job required it. Then I became very active on these online communities, primarily with the goal of being able to communicate effeciently.
But rather quickly, I’m seeing the perks and the drawbacks. This kind of communication changes life and numbs us to some extent. It’s one-sided, layered with covert messages, “disposable” yet permanent, and rather time consuming (if one allows it to become so). Now, I’m seeing people treat other people as disposable in ‘real life.’ It’s almost as if these sites teach us to dehumanize each other. I’m not quite sure why this is, but I do not like it. It’s almost like our full color lives have turned “black and white…” (more specifically into binary code 0101010101…) I don’t think the answer is to boycott the sites – they’re a part of the culture, but at the same time, I’m looking for some constructive ways to engage in activities that value people and honor God in that context. Any ideas?
