Are Digital Technologies making us anti-social?

“Texting Congress 3” (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) by  afagen 

Well I did the quiz and to me the natural response to that question was ‘Yes’.  I have teenage children and that is a common complaint I have with them.  They get all too often engrossed in their phone, iPad, computer or whatever and they shut down to the world around them.

I was really surprised when I found out that I had answered incorrectly but after reading on further, it then made sense.  I agree that technology does not determine human behaviour but I do think that various forms of technology can be addictive for both adults and children.

I think this is largely due to the entertainment these devices provide and the way they can connect us to family, friends and work from where ever we may be.  This makes technology very important to people but I do believe there has to be a balance, as with everything in life.

I did like Raine and Wellman comments on the study desk but I do think society in some aspects has become anti-social at times due to technology.

Rainie and Wellman (2012) offer this perspective

Despite all the attention paid to new gadgets, technology does not determine human behavior; humans determine how technologies are used.

Echoing the argument that it’s not the technologies fault, it doesn’t make us be anti-social.

Rainie and Wellman (2012, p. 12) go on to say about people making use of the connections offered by computer networks

Many meet their social, emotional, and economic needs by tapping into sparsely knit networks of diverse associates rather than relying on tight connections to a relatively small number of core associates.

So people meeting in places may or may not be being anti-social to others, they may just be engaging socially via different means with different people.

Whatever the case may be, this does have a connection with ICT and Pedagogy.

 

Rainie, L., & Wellman, B. (2012). Networked: The new social operating system. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.