csteele,

I'm sure that Illich's concentric circles existed - and still exist in traditional societies. It's us in the modern rational world who free float in intellectual space, which is simultaneously liberating and overwhelming.

Facebook can only transmit thought that is in turn processed and reacted to. Gone are the subliminal physical characteristics of personal interaction. Often communication is delivered in abrupt or staccato fashion - information often devoid of overall context.
We underestimate the power of physical expression in our human state. It's left to our imagination to fill in the blanks. It's something that we accomplish fairly well, although humans evolved to subliminally absorb the physical world around them. We give that sort of psychological trellis short shrift these days, and I think more than ever in our human to human interactions. I think, however, that social media like Facebook does help people keep in touch.

I'm not against online communication, but we should ponder the medium. Here on OLO I can discern those who I'm attracted to...but we only deliver that information which suits us. We don't see the entirety of the person at all. And although that can happen in real life, it's much harder to accomplish.

Your example of people being given the experience of a "treasure hunt" is interesting. I'm always fascinated by modern society's penchant to replace a normal ramble with an artificially contrived one and a reward as a lure to participate

Just wanted to add that I agree with ybgirp that this is the way civilisation is going - and that I'm aware also that, for the most, part, all we can do is sit and watch it unfold.

Do any of you ever get the feeling (that often occurs to me) that all this marvellous technological communication is temporary? I often feel that gee this is fun, but somewhere along the line it's not something that can be sustained...just a personal feeling.

Ah, yes, Poirot. Body language. Face to face I never make enemies. On line in fora such as this I frequently manage to alienate and suffer the slings and arrows of misunderstanding. [sob]
My grandmother taught me the joys of walking in nature, the pleasurable experience being sufficient reward. Walking, not racing from point to point in a car directed by satellite technology through handsets made by Apple's slaves in poisonous factories where illness and death at early age is the norm. My i-pad cost me several hundred dollars, but like the i-phone, it cost Apple a mere $4.00 to make including wages.
Humans only 'see' and 'experience' and truly appreciate if they are walking, sitting or standing still. Driving in a car is the same as watching a documentary on TV. Global free trade; lauded in Hans Rosling's video as the saviour of Mauritania, is another furphy. The beautiful, hand made and printed cotton garments of Niger are now virtually extinct because cheap Chinese imitations have put both the cotton growers and textile manufacturers out of business. Today my giant banksia fell. Without the influx of cheap Asian imports, a local cabinetmaker would have turned the beautiful timber into articles of lasting value. It is now sliced up for firewood. Free trade in the current global financial system creates slaves and destroys local industry.

Dear Poirot and ybgirp

Lol, I think I am on a hiding to nothing here. I feel like whistling the final song in The Life Of Brian. Oh well.

I wonder if there were the same concerns when the telephone was introduced? Disembodied voices down scratchy lines.

I think the popularity for social media for our youth has come about precisely because of the constraints we have placed upon our children's freedoms. In this respect I am agreeing with ybgirp, as a lad of seven I was out until all hours riding my bike and going bush with mates and having a ball. I think the circle for a time had constricted to the nuclear family particularly within our cities. We had become preoccupied with the safety of our children to the detriment of their psychological and developmental well-being. It is not our fault as protecting our young is a base instinct and perhaps the stresses and strains, especially with two working parents, have served to heighten that instinct.

Social media is a hole in that fence, enhanced by the fact that many parents are less than savvy about the medium. If a child is unlucky enough to have a tech-head for a father there can be interesting ramifications.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOASUVOmkYQ&feature=related

Only in America.

Cont...

Cont...

I wonder Poirot if some of the promise of the NBN might return, not entirely of course, some of the physical interaction you see as missing in modern communication?

“The full-sized screens meant that delegates could have proper, emotionally-charged meetings - it wasn't like looking at a small computer screen with someone struggling to communicate on Skype with terrible audio. Ministers were raving about it, especially those from Perth. Every occasion where ministerial staff didn't have to travel to Canberra meant that they weren't out of the office for three days and didn't come back jetlagged and travel weary. How much do we ordinarily pay these three people to travel for three days?”
“In a separate example, someone missed a flight and had to appear at an overseas meeting using telepresence. When he got to the next meeting, everyone thought he had been at the previous meeting - they'd forgotten that he'd attended remotely.”
http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2012/02/21/3435975.htm

Yet I don't think that the young will be drawn away from the medium they have created for themselves. Very few I know use Skype even when it is available and email is used sparingly if at all. Social media allows them access to and relationships with, historically unprecedented numbers of people in a manner that none of the old media would be capable of.

Time will tell if they end up living more, or less, fulfilled lives than we have but I'm happy to wish them well in the venture.

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as a manor of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.

I get the sense that this is truer for this generation than any in the past.

csteele,

I'm not of the opinion that online communication is wholly negative. Like I said, it's an adaptation to technology, and we should be heartened that the gravitational pull of humans to interact is so powerfully in evidence. I love that I can come on OLO and interact with other inquiring minds, offer up my opinions and debate issues. I'm often intrigued at the way all us use this medium to validate our views, ourselves and to polish our egos. I'm aware that is what I do sometimes. It's great when you learn something or someone agrees with you or gives you kudos for raising something oblique. I discuss issues with friends and family, but I find a more conducive atmosphere and a wider circle of opinions on OLO.

Your point about the modern day restrictions on our children and youth is extremely pertinent. We have taken away their freedoms and their sense of independence - valuable tools in development. I think you're right that Facebook and like social media are their routes of escaping the stultifying "protections" we have constructed. My ten year-old son occasionally brings up that point and asks why he can't have a Twitter account or his own blog. I tell him he's too young because online communication is far removed from neighbourhood involvement in times past where checks and balances were in place (for the most part) to mitigate naivety and vulnerability.