It describes the phenomenon of being facebook friends with someone, yet failing to even acknowledge their existence in real life. The article talks about pretending to be texting or listening to an ipod as you walk by someone you know, in order to look distracted so you don't have to say hello. How many of you are guilty of this? How many of you have acquaintances, for example, someone who lived in the same dorm as you freshman year, as friends on facebook, yet ignore them/be ignored when you pass each other on ring road? I have personally experienced this, as I'm sure many of you have. Although social networking sites such as facebook definitely have useful functions, such as networking with someone you might normally be unable to contact, or allowing somebody shy to more easily communicate with someone than via telephone or face to face. But are these networking sites useful in these ways or are they actually nurturing shyness and isolation? The article notes, "The tragic, isolating thing is that we reach for our devices because we don’t want to seem lonely — which is causing us to avoid our peers and actually be lonely." My generation has grown up using AIM and text messaging, and it seems clear that tools like these are indeed disintegrating face to face social interaction. Is it because we have less emotional support "reserves" because we spend time interacting with many people online, or have we simply forgotten how to act in daily face to face interaction? A previous poster mentioned a new networking sight for children as young as 6 years old. How will future generations interact in face to face environments?
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