Dr Aric Sigman’s assertion that the increasing use of electronic devices is reducing social contact (see Telegraph technology blog), and therefore is potentially harmful to health, is clearly utter tosh.
The web is an essentially social phenomenon. It puts people in touch with each other.
I’ll take my past few weeks for example.
I took redundancy from my last job at the end of the year. Since then, I have immersed myself in electronic devices, with a lovely new mobile phone, laptop, and an ever increasing digital footprint.
I have met, say, 20 new people involved in social media scene in Birmingham by browsing blogs and following links (including using Facebook). I am hopeful that I will be able to further these relationships from both personal and professional points of view (I should be starting a new job next week).
I take a keen interest in displaying terrible golf abilities; I used an electronic device (laptop) to arrange a golf weekend for myself and three friends, and it was a very social event indeed (although I’m not sure how much good it did for my health).
My mobile phone has enabled a lot of contact with friends old and new, and helped me with driving directions on more than one occasion.
I am hoping to use Facebook in earnest to help promote a local festival, and so bring even more people to an immensely social event.
And, previous to these past few weeks (I’ve been quite busy), I met my wife through the internet.
My taste in music has expanded exponentially. I have more knowledge now than I could dream about. And I know that, if there is something I am not sure about, I can find an answer of reasonable accuracy within minutes.
What Dr Sigman seems to have done is fail to see technology as a communication tool. It’s perhaps apt that his work cannot be seen online, so we can’t get to the full facts easily. Facebook et al are fantastically social tools, that postively encourage increased interaction, bringing it with those added benefits of socialisation that Dr Sigman espouses. The web transforms society, bringing people together. But thanks, doc, anyway, as perhaps we do need reminding that this is an essentially sociable space.
#1 by Chris Allison on February 26th, 2009 - 3:33 pm
If anything I think the danger lies in becoming overly social and hyper connected, not the other way around.
#2 by Rob Benson on March 15th, 2009 - 7:46 pm
True enough – you can end up spending all day communicating and end up actually doing nothing. That would have made a more interesting study!