Are we a non-social generation?

[Arsen]

I have noticed for quite some time that ever since the internet boom and our technology has given us a vast amount of resources to communicate with, that I find people communicating less and less with other people in terms of a decent, random conversation.

Am I the only one noticing this?

 

[Abedeus]

Vete al mierda!

Just kidding, kidding. It's just that people explosed to idiocity of others just stop reacting to their low principals and aspirations.

That is, "party down".

 

[Gladion]

I don't think so, actually. I cannot recall having more or less conversations or hearing people talk less in the streets since the internet is common (which it is at least for 10 years now).

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I find people communicating less and less with other people in terms of a decent, random conversation.

Am I the only one noticing this?

But isn't that kinda what we are doing right now?

It's still a conversation, just minus seeing the other person's face?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I find people communicating less and less with other people in terms of a decent, random conversation.

Am I the only one noticing this?

But isn't that kinda what we are doing right now?

It's still a conversation, just minus seeing the other person's face?

This.

Plus I randomly talk to people on the street, and on benches. Especially the elderly, they're really nice.

 

[Nivag the Owl]

This is totally a sub-section of one of my units in college

But anyway, I don't think so. I'm as social as I ever was. Which is a lot, by the way, before you say "lol so none then?".

 

[Ancientgamer]

What makes random conversation decent? The discussions I've had online have always been much more civilized and productive than inane chit-chat.

Oh, and no.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I find people communicating less and less with other people in terms of a decent, random conversation.

Am I the only one noticing this?

But isn't that kinda what we are doing right now?

It's still a conversation, just minus seeing the other person's face?

This.

Plus I randomly talk to people on the street, and on benches. Especially the elderly, they're really nice.

Stay away from them! You could catch the old disease! Ewww...It's worse than cooties!
But seriously, why do older people believe that you have to be talking face-to-face to count as a social interaction?

 

[CapnGod]

Even as a fairly quiet kid in high school, my first year in college, I was pretty social, while still winding up one of the quieter ones. We had blazing fast internet (T1 per building, back when it was still rare for most to have anything but dialup).

We still partied our asses off. With people on our floor, people in the building, and we all headed out for parties all the time. Even gaming brought some of us together. This was back before Counter Strike hit its 1.0 patch, and a bunch of us played together, and then would party together.

Even today, I still go to the bar with friends, we hang out, go to the occasional party (although they are a LOT more subdued these days), and spend time with friends.

I do this while managing to spend a fair amount of time online, working, etc. So, while the internet gives us new ways to relate ("Oh, did you see that site, it's hilarious!") people are, by nature, fairly social creatures.

 

[ace_of_something]

First of all I'm a GenX'r (granted I caught the tail end of that) The generation before you you GenY kids and you even younger yet "Millennials"

We were so anti-social they called us Generation X as in "Nothing"

Second of all; I think that means we lose.

 

[Kellerb]

in comparison to medeival times and further back, i would agree.

 

[corporate_gamer]

You know this is a decent random conversation. But i don't know the answer, i will go away and ask my friends.

 

[Frizzle]

I find people communicating less and less with other people in terms of a decent, random conversation.

Am I the only one noticing this?

But isn't that kinda what we are doing right now?

It's still a conversation, just minus seeing the other person's face?

This.

Plus I randomly talk to people on the street, and on benches. Especially the elderly, they're really nice.

Stay away from them! You could catch the old disease! Ewww...It's worse than cooties!
But seriously, why do older people believe that you have to be talking face-to-face to count as a social interaction?

Well to an extent I agree with the old people. I don't think the internet has made us less social, but SMS and cell phones definately have. I know so many people that are perfectly happy, sitting there and typing away, even in a group of people. It's almost as if they prefer their little phone to the friend next to them.

Most people cruise the internet when no one else is around, or at work. It's a situation where you're likely to be alone-ish anyway.

For the record, I hate SMS, and want to shoot whoever thought to make cell phones with it.

I miss face to face conversations like they used to be. BACK IN THE DAY!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I find people communicating less and less with other people in terms of a decent, random conversation.

Am I the only one noticing this?

But isn't that kinda what we are doing right now?

It's still a conversation, just minus seeing the other person's face?

This.

Plus I randomly talk to people on the street, and on benches. Especially the elderly, they're really nice.

Stay away from them! You could catch the old disease! Ewww...It's worse than cooties!
But seriously, why do older people believe that you have to be talking face-to-face to count as a social interaction?

Well to an extent I agree with the old people. I don't think the internet has made us less social, but SMS and cell phones definately have. I know so many people that are perfectly happy, sitting there and typing away, even in a group of people. It's almost as if they prefer their little phone to the friend next to them.

Most people cruise the internet when no one else is around, or at work. It's a situation where you're likely to be alone-ish anyway.

For the record, I hate SMS, and want to shoot whoever thought to make cell phones with it.

I miss face to face conversations like they used to be. BACK IN THE DAY!

Don't know what SMS is...I don't call people on my cell much. And I got rid of texting since I never used it. I usually talk over Xbox Live or forums.

 

[Frizzle]

Don't know what SMS is...I don't call people on my cell much. And I got rid of texting since I never used it. I usually talk over Xbox Live or forums.

SMS is a text message. Not sure the *proper* name, but most of the countries I've been to outside the US call it the former.

 

[roblikestoskate]

I am seeing some different behavioral norms in the generation that has grown up with internet access and widely available cell phones, but I'm having trouble generalizing it. I have met younger folks who seem to have underdeveloped conversational skills, but who can express themselves well in a written medium such as instant messaging or internet forums. I feel that there is an emphasis on instant gratification and if I fail to respond immediately to a text or instant message I get responses such as "HELLO?!? WHY ARENT YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO ME?!" I also feel that for all the utility and blessing that technology brings us, that those growing up with this technology are more succeptable to its tropes: being baited into arguments, spamming, trolling, and being generally immature. I would cite, for example, the contrast between online conduct during a game of Halo 3 and that of Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, HD Remix. The HD Remix crowd is older, more polite, more constructive, more creative, and generally better at holding a conversation. Most of the Halo-ers I've encountered... well, there wasn't much substance there. I realize this comparison isn't entirely representative or scientific, so I can't draw any strong conclusions, but I submit this as annecdotal evidence.

 

[Masika]

I am seeing some different behavioral norms in the generation that has grown up with internet access and widely available cell phones, but I'm having trouble generalizing it. I have met younger folks who seem to have underdeveloped conversational skills, but who can express themselves well in a written medium such as instant messaging or internet forums. I feel that there is an emphasis on instant gratification and if I fail to respond immediately to a text or instant message I get responses such as "HELLO?!? WHY ARENT YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO ME?!" I also feel that for all the utility and blessing that technology brings us, that those growing up with this technology are more succeptable to its tropes: being baited into arguments, spamming, trolling, and being generally immature. I would cite, for example, the contrast between online conduct during a game of Halo 3 and that of Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, HD Remix. The HD Remix crowd is older, more polite, more constructive, more creative, and generally better at holding a conversation. Most of the Halo-ers I've encountered... well, there wasn't much substance there. I realize this comparison isn't entirely representative or scientific, so I can't draw any strong conclusions, but I submit this as annecdotal evidence.

I can, to a degree, see where you are going with this. I do agree that an older crowd does have the ability to better hold up a conversation. I can see that with just about any generation. Well, generation in a different terms. For example, my grandparents could talk and talk and talk in person. My parents could talk, but sometimes find it difficult talking to people they don't know and/or have no connection to. Myself, I can talk forever to some one that I know and have an incredible difficulty talking to people I don't know. My sister (a mere two years behind me) can talk to friends, but has a hard time talking to people she doesn't know and has a hard time communicating to the family. I also notice that type of pattern in other people aswell. I had a friend who said she wanted to be a lawyer, but I could never see that happening because for the life of her she could not express how she felt saying to people. She also had a hard time communicating to certain people. In some way, this (in others) will be a very bad thing for our societies.

I don't think that people cannot really see the extent of the social hinderance technology has on us, because we (the teens and younger generation that is) have always had technology in our life. We can't tell it has any affect on us socially, because that is all we know.

A little off topic and more so to the general people who read this and not directly to you, but! I find it terribly annoying when I hear someone say something like, "I will die if my dad takes my cellphone away." or, "I swear I'll shoot myself if you break my iPod." Oh! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I can't seem to ever say that enough. Just because you don't have that one piece of technology doesn't mean that the world will come crashing down and you will be trampled by a raving rampage of giant pot bellied pigs! (Sorry, that's just something that really irks me.)

 

[CapnGod]

Most forums I've been to would make me tend to disagree with your statement that the younger generation can adequately express themselves via written communication. They come across as blithering idiots for whom the grammar and spelling error is the norm rather than the exception.

Not a big deal, you say? I'd disagree. I've read papers turned in by college students that were next to gibberish. Completely unacceptable at that level, and it makes one wonder what the hell is happening to this generation. Granted, this only applies to those of the generation that actively go online and participate in the forums I happen to, but my point, I think, remains.

It's a disgrace (although knowing a couple of people around my age who've since become teachers, it's not all that surprising, I guess).

However, inept at fluidly expressing oneself does not equate to a social ineptitude in general. We've just taken some of our interactions to different media. Texting, facebook, and tardspace are means of interacting with others, however superficially this may sometimes be.

 

[CapnGod]

Hell, I remember going to TheGlobe.com back in the day because I lived out in the middle of nowhere and it was easy to use that as a means of social interaction.

P.S.- What happened to chatroom style sites such as TheGlobe? I haven't seen anything like that in a while. Has it all pushed over to forum style interaction?

 

[Gooble]

If it weren't for the internet then I wouldn't have had interaction with hundreds of people on forums and over Xbox Live-that's hardly be unsociable.