Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, Blogspot, Youtube and MSN are amongst the thousands, if not, millions of technological amenities that many youths have grown accustomed to. With the increasing availability of technology, and a decent sized wallet, many people have taken advantage of the services that such providers bring on the screen of every PC. With a click of a button here and there, friends are found and some are made. Some people have even rose to fame due to the Internet through mediums such as videos, written work, audio files and pictures. At the very same time, the same services that provide us are used as hunting grounds for scammers and hackers; luring people unfortunately gullible enough to fall victim to their games.
However, I shall stick to one topic for now: Has the Internet affected our social life? The obvious answer would be a ‘yes’ as it has broadened our scope while decreasing geographical boundaries as people meet others from far-away countries. We are even given a chance to meet people without stepping out of the doorstep.
These, of course, are the positive reasons amongst many others. To be more specific, since many of us, especially the youths, have experienced the pros, have we subconsciously gained on the negative repercussions that the Internet has unknowingly given us?
It is an interesting paradox: One reason of the Internet’s popularity is the accessibility to other people. How is it a paradox? Simple, it makes meeting people in the real world more difficult.
Behind the safety of our computer screens, we tend to make ‘braver’ decisions, so as to speak, as we know that it would be difficult to be personally effected so long as we know what we are doing. Same goes to why super heroes wear masks. What is concerning is that some people may have gotten far too comfortable wearing these masks and find it difficult in the real world without donning them.
Take this scenario as an example: Joe is an avid participant in friend networking systems that allows him to meet people of all walks of life. A couple of instant messages here and there are within his comfort zone. He sees a profile of a rather attractive girl. Let’s call her Jane. He thinks to himself “Wow, maybe I should introduce myself. If it does not work, it’s alright; I don’t know her in person anyway.” Now Joe is in public and sees someone that is ‘chat worthy’. However, he can not sum up the courage to make a confrontation since he is not used to meeting many people in person. He does not have that mask of security that he dons ever so proudly under the nickname ‘SexyTofuBoy’.
(Everything is fictional in this example. If there so happens to be any resemblance to a real life situation, it is purely coincidental.)
The availability and ease of making friends online has stolen our opportunities of practicing face to face situations; skills that should be developed in building character, a life-skill perhaps. Although the Internet has undoubtedly helped many people in making friends and keeping track of them, one should not forget the importance of first hand experience that the Internet does not provide. I have personally seen people who have made false impressions online. They exaggerate to get attention. I have also seen opposite situations where people are more open on the internet, being more comfortable. The problem with both situations is when they do not live up to their standards when met with people who know them on the Internet. This is when false impressions are made.
Another problem would be shyness. People shy away from things they are not comfortable with; beliefs, ideologies and cultures that they have not become accustomed towards. In this case, it would be people being shy or afraid to connect with new acquaintances. Since exposure to having experience in making first hand friends is limited, some tend to become foreign in such fields and may lead to panicky moments and awkward silences that society is facing ever too often.
One more issue that would be discussed before ending this article would touch on personal reasons. Typed words between friends do not have that friend’s voice; it does not have their peculiar tone of voice and pitch and loses its personal significance. No behavioral changes; however, do imagine this: a person breaks a relationship through text or instant messaging. This, unfortunately, has happened to many people in far too many occasions. It simply shows not only laziness on such emphasis but also a tint of indifference. This may vary for different people but this is the way I see it. Another way to make this analogy clear is this scenario where a child picks up a picture and tells his father that he likes old pictures as you can pick them up and hug them, unlike digitalized pictures stored in CDs and floppy-discs. The father then agrees and picks up his child, and like what the child did to the picture, he hugged him.
In the end, the Internet has done great wonders in spreading information and data to the tips of every literate and even illiterate people’s fingers. It has made everything simple. However, real life is a completely different game. Hopefully, we will still remember the difference and remember that we have to face people and not the screen at one point of time.
