Did you know that Americans are becoming more isolated? That seems absurd, right? I mean, we have our cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart televisions, and game consoles. What more do we need? Items that connect us to other people without making us take the time to get ready, get into our car, drive to the destination, walk into the location by ourself to search for our friend a bit - which can be annoying and time-consuming, and then sit awkwardly with them for a moment. And then there are all the other factors that come with us actually spending time with other human beings -other people staring, weird noises, debates, drunkenness, aggression, loudness, rudeness, and more. Or when you are actually spending time with your friends, they are not present because they want to be talking to their other friends on their phones. Be with the friends you are with!
Devices are pretty amazing and super helpful in terms of you can remain in the comforts of your own home to communicate and connect with your friends and family members. Communication yes, but connecting with these people? Can you really connect with other people using these devices?
There have been more issues with loneliness, depression and anxiety since these devices became more popular. So, according to that information, it doesn’t seem connecting or remaining connected with loved ones is working so well. People are actually becoming more disconnected. This may not be the case so much with individuals that are in domestic relationships or marriages, but that is because they have people in their household. But even then, most of their time is probably spent on their devices too. How much time are they actually spending with their loved ones? Or even paying attention to them?
One situation that just occurred the other day that I felt was fairly odd involved a telephone conversation with one of my really good friends. I sent her a message telling her that I needed to have an actual over-the-phone conversation versus messaging or texts, after I had already tried calling once. What do you think her response was?
She responded, but informed me that she would call, but it needed to be the next day. Uh, what? The request was made early in the day, and we had been messaging back and forth, but it’s going to take a day to call back. Why? It wasn’t like it was a late night request or something. Sorry girl if you are reading this. Not mad at you! But I am just trying to explain how things have been changing. Back in the day, we spent hours on the phone TALKING to each other. Now, it’s an inconvenience to pick up the phone and listen to your friend’s voice. Of course that is going to lead to disconnection.
And another thing… How many times do you misinterpret texts? It would have been super easy to just talk it out, or what about the conversations that take HOURS to complete over texts that would have been completed in five minutes with an actual over-the-phone conversation.
We are social creatures. We are supposed to be having meaningful encounters with other people. Right!?
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