Is technology why community is going extinct?

[VivaRevolution]

So here is the theory I am working on. Technology, smart phones, netflix, games, social media are destroying community.

That most of us would rather be doing something else, when we are talking to someone. I hear people say all the time that when they were at some event all they wanted to do was go home, and consume some kind of media.

This thread was actually inspired by another thread discussing why church attendence, and identifying with Christian religions is on the decline in the US.

This is why I think religions, and other forms of community are in decline. People would rather be consuming media then interacting with other human beings. I bet most of the church going war roomers could attest to how many of their fellow church members are more interested in getting home on Sunday after services, then socialising.

We see this in the phenomena of people surfing their phone, while in social settings, such as at a restaurant.

I am very guilty of this. I don't like talking to 98% of people. I would rather be reading, or posting in the WR, watching a movie, nfl, ufc.

Of course I refuse to talk to people for more then 5 minutes before I move the conversation to politics, which makes me very popular, and the life of the party. Non-political people love me. I'm pretty sure most people would rather be on their phone, then talking politics with me.

 

[LatFlare]

Population growth. More people means more arseholes i don't want to talk to.

 

[MMAViewer]

Meh, I think people are also linked together by Facebook snap chat Twitter etc. Connecting the community. Technology has helped us connect communities.

 

[VivaRevolution]

Population growth. More people means more arseholes i don't want to talk to.

Can you imagine though, that if their were only 3 tv channels, and no dvd's, that you might prefer to talk to an asshole, rather than go home and watch 1 of 3 things, on a blurry 22 inch tube tv?

 

[GOATER]

You're right.......Take a look at kids.


Back in my day, in the same neighborhood, with poor mexican immigrants living in apartments...compared to today, Nothing has changed, same demographic.....but back in the day, we use to play outside, we had water gun fights, the kids around the block were a community.

Now when I go outside, I rarely see these kids playing outside...and if they do play outside, its within the same apartments...I never see water gun fights between apartments....and I know for a fact there is kids here because of all the damn birthday parties they throw.

What changed? Technology....kids these days just stay inside...I mean back in the day I loved watching bill nye, and loved playing on my Dreamcast,PC, N64 etc....but we still went outside.

Now the positives about this, is that it appears gangs can't recruit kids as easily since they are inside now lol.



OP, I have this APP idea, that could restore community...it's my billion dollar idea......I think its the answer...Im talking to my Berkeley Computer programming friend to make it happen.....of course, this App could be used in bad ways as well, I think it's gonna revolutionize the world..

 

[LatFlare]

Can you imagine though, that if their were only 3 tv channels, and no dvd's, that you might prefer to talk to an asshole, rather than go home and watch 1 of 3 things, on a blurry 22 inch tube tv?

No an asshole is an asshole. I don't watch much tv anyway.

 

[bobgeese]

To be fair, a Good percentage of people are fucking idiots. Talking to them is a waste of time.



Meanwhile, we have the collective knowledge of man at our fingertips, we can learn anything we’re willing to work at.



Hmmm, let me see how I want to spend my time...

 

[irish_thug]

yes

 

[VivaRevolution]

Meanwhile, we have the collective knowledge of man at our fingertips, we can learn anything we’re willing to work at.

Hmmm, let me see how I want to spend my time...

And the survey says......

The number 1 answer is........

Fwapping to porn.

 

[irish_thug]

And the survey says......

The number 1 answer is........

Fwapping to porn.

 

[VivaRevolution]

Here is where I know my misogyny shines. Talking to women I'm not attracted to........

 

[salamander]

It becomes too easy to compartmentalize your life from other people with the tech we have by forming anonymous communities where traditional rules of discourse can be subverted. Echo chambers make for poor houses because they are built on the foundation of partisan consensus rather than observable logic.

Online you can be a snarky, tough-guy with minimal consequence. You can call someone a "goof" or a "n-----" online and keep your teeth...in the real world that generally doesn't happen...but raise a generation of kids who have never known a world without internet and they will have a different sense, and expectation, of what consequences are.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

I think every generation has the feeling of " I remember community being stronger in my day."

Technology has actually made "communities" super large -- it just may be less personal and way less face to face.

What would you do with out your WR community if you couldn't vent your nutty opinions to us? You would be in a shack in Montana wishing you were better at math.

 

[uncommon]

What would you do with out your WR community if you couldn't vent your nutty opinions to us?

What if the point of the community is not to vent but use that energy toward something above the individual?

In a real life community/ social event.
You behave, listen, and speak carefully, and respect what real life people feel.

on the internet its the opposite, i think the internet can attempt to simulate a community but the reality of the simulation will still be recognized.

we dont care about eachothers usernames like we would a real life person.

 

[Streeter]

Technology being used by public imo has hurt more then it's helped. Kids used to just go out an play, interact with others. Now it's video games an facetime. When I was growing up in 80s sun division would have many if not most people outside on a nice day , working /playing /talking now it's like it's baron Noone is out. Sucks imo

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

What if the point of the community is not to vent but use that energy toward something above the individual?

In a real life community/ social event.
You behave, listen, and speak carefully, and respect what real life people feel.

on the internet its the opposite, i think the internet can attempt to simulate a community but the reality of the simulation will still be recognized.

we dont care about eachothers usernames like we would a real life person.

Realistically, nothing stops you from being polite and genuine online. You choose to be a phony. I agree that online connectivity has resulted in less personable behavior but its also has expanded community for the majority. Introverts who never left the house can now have thousands of people to talk to through various specific interest sites.

We could never discuss sports, politics, science, media, etc with this many people, with this much available knowledge and in such a dynamic way in the pre 98'ish Era.

 

[S-dot]

I guess it depends on how you define community. I think it’s causing communities to evolve with some good and some bad effects like all of the history of community evolution. For example, sherdog is a community in a new sense. Tech allows people to expand their community to find people all over the world electronically. I prefer the old communities I grew up with but I don’t think tech inherently does anything, people do what they choose with the technology they have access to.

 

[bigkick]

Robert Putnam wrote a book about this subject in the 90s, entitled Bowling Alone. Technology was starting to intrude at that point, but not nearly to the extent it does today. So while it's obvious that tech is fucking up our society in many ways (which is not to say it hasn't been helpful in some ways), I think the atomization we worry about prob has deeper roots.

I don't know how to put it eloquently, but my belief is that people have become more focused on making money (out of necessity, out of greed?) and less interested in the conventions that helped maintain a sense of community. I also believe this is an inevitable consequence of the system of Capitalism that dominates most of the western world. Tech is just another product of that system.

 

[uncommon]

Realistically, nothing stops you from being polite and genuine online. You choose to be a phony.

I dont believe there is a choice of treating a username the same as a real life person. I think at least i am incapable of that.

The practice of being respectful to a username at the expense of an objective is being phony.

The practice of being respectful to a real life person at the expense of an objective is called being social.

 

[TheGreatA]

I wouldn't say that technology is destroying communities, community is just changing form.

The problem is that our minds have evolved to expect a more emotionally invested, tightly-knit experience of community, with more of a physical presence, than what modern technology is enabling us to experience (emotionally distant, loosely related, physically detached).

We are beginning to reach the limits of what our physiques and minds are capable of handling, as far as all the variables that are introduced, and thus we are met with more depression and confusion than perhaps ever before in history. That is why I would say that it is important to address the demands of the mind, and maintain some form of a sense of community and kinship, a foundation from which you can continue to healthily develop. Even if all of that seems to be inevitably turning into a "thing of the past".

We must remember, that we too, are "things of the past", not machines created to perfectly adapt to modern circumstances and requirements. Past thousands of years of evolutionary development affects us to a much greater extent, than the past 50 years of it. It becomes much easier to maneuver around modern society, as long as we acknowledge this.