Preserving the Human relationship

[punkpianist360]

In this age of technological advances, communication means texting, facebook chatting, etc, and I HATE it.  I try my hardest to talk to people in person.

Tell your ways of preserving the human relationship in a cyber run world!

[fleetfingers]

Good question!

A good rule of thumb is: When an email or text conversation has gone back and forth more than a few times, it's time to pick up the phone or visit in person.


I agree with you that personal, face-to-face contact should not be neglected or set aside in favor of the various technological ways of communicating. I have found that my relationships with people are better if I make an effort to speak to them in person regularly. A smiley emoticon can never brighten someone's day the way an old-fashioned smile can! 

[floydcramerfan]

This is so true.  I have friends that I never met and I've just talked to them on the internet, but I always prefer to call them if I can't visit them because I prefer to hear their voice.

[keyboardclass]

Humour!

[perfect_pitch]

In this age of technological advances, communication means texting, facebook chatting, etc, and I HATE it. 

Anyone see the irony of posting this on a chat forum???   

Personally - I see it as being able to talk to the far corners of the earth and discuss with each other despite the distance. The words we type are the thoughts and feelings we were thinking of at the time of typing, so I don't think it's THAT bad!!!

[jesc]

I find it quite useful especially when the people I have to talk to are scattered all over the world. Skype, facebook or yahoo messenger etc. come in handy. However, if the person I'm relating to is within the city I'm in, I opt for a face to face interaction as much as possible.

If there is anything I hate about the technological advances (specifically the internet), it is how easy it can bring out the worst in people. How easy it is to hide from the consequences one carelessly brings about. How easy it is to jump in a bandwagon and hate.

[floydcramerfan]

Exactly.  People post stuff on the internet they wouldn't dare say to a person's face.

[perfect_pitch]

Exactly.  People post stuff on the internet they wouldn't dare say to a person's face.

Erm... I don't quite think so. When you get those tossers on the forum who spam the crap out of it, or post absolute rubbish, or just sign up to insult other people and they need to be taken care off - I use the forums simply because I don't have the opportunity to ping them, find out where the live and tell them f**k off myself.

You know - like scp, or sonicphaze, or any of the other tossers who come onto this forums posting crap, but expecting people to kiss their bloody arse.

[floydcramerfan]

That wasn't directed at you, perfect, or this forum in particular.  I just notice that because I watch a lot of youtube vids and people leave comments calling people bad names and insulting them for no reason.  Plus, I had some people start a facebook group about me to make fun of me.  They didn't even have the cojones (is that okay to say here?) to come and talk to me face to face.  They had to go and spread crap on FB.  These were not people from all over the world like on the forum, I knew most of these people and thought they were my friends.  Sorry for the rant.

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

I wouldn't say anything online I wouldn't say in real life, personally...
I'm pretty sure people who know me could easily identify me here anyway

But I know what you people mean by the spammers and the trolls and all the insults... some insults are so awful I've never heard anyone say them in real life, ever.

About phones- I swear I have phonophobia. I hate talking on the phone and calling people. I would rather either speak to them face to face, or email them, or text them...
I don't know why. It drives my parents crazy though.

[madvillain]

I don’t tend to see technology in such black and white terms.  I've used it to communicate with people half way across the world, and to get in touch with old friends form school.  There is a definite disadvantage to texting and facebook but it’s impossible to get that face to face time every time we interact, or at least with the same frequency.
I see personally capitalism as a much great determent to human relationships

[ahinton]

I see personally capitalism as a much great determent to human relationships

I don't - but let's not get into that, especially as it would be off-topic.

Electronic communications technology of any and all kinds interferes with human relationships only if and to the extent that particular humans encourage or allow it to do so; the kinds of human that remain aware of the on/off switch, maintain their conversational skills, continue to meet people in real life and write emails as though they were writing letters using pen, ink and paper are, as a rule, unlikely to find that their interpersonal skills and relationship forming capabilities become compromised by the presence and use of such technology.

Not everyone feels the need to use all such available technolgy in the first place, nor does everyone need to use every facility that each piece of technology offers; I, for example, have only ever used mobile phones to make and receive calls and, in more than 15 years, I've never felt the need to make use of the increasingly immense range of other facilities that these devices offer. I watch television only when there is something that I particularly want to watch and I never have any electronic devices switched on and functioning other than when I actually want to use them (apart, of course, from computer equipment which remains switched on permanently so that it is both ready for use and able to receive communications at all times).

Provided that any and all of these facilities are regarded and used solely as peripheral enhancements to life rather than as substitutions for or improvements upon any aspect of it, the risk of interference with human relationships should remain very low and all should be well.

Best,

Alistair

[madvillain]

i do think the annonimity of internet discourages civility, just look at youtube comments...
And sorry didn't mean to get all off topic:)

[ahinton]

i do think the annonimity of internet discourages civility, just look at youtube comments...
And sorry didn't mean to get all off topic:)

Whilst internet use permits user anonymity, the extent to which users have recourse to it is down to the individual user. Whilst some users hide behind pseudonymic IDs, others reveal all on "social networking" facilities such as Facebook; it's a matter of personal choice. That said, I do not agree that internet anonymity inherently "discourages civility"; in other words, there's no need for incivility either on the internet or face to face and I do not believe that any one facility can credibly be blamed for instances of it in either form - to suggest otherwise seems to me to be broadly analogous to the bad workman blaming his tools.

Best,

Alistair

[madvillain]

I agree wholeheartedly we are responsible for how we use our technology!  Our level of participation is a matter of personal choice certainly but I think while maybe not the only decider of the manner of our discussion the forum of it doubtless has an influence. 

Also for those interested Neil Postman has written quite a bit on technology

[faa2010]

I totaly agree with you, and I could know what you mean.

I have been hoping that my most precious relationships could preserve for years even though we are far away from each other and moved on with our lives, at least see us once a year.

However one thing is not losing contact with the others and another thing is preserving true relationships.

With technology like msm, hotmail and Facebook, we cannot lose contact with the others, but it doesn't help on preserving the true relationships. ie: In the msm I can be available for hours during the day, waiting for someone who can initiate a conversation with me, alas I am THE ONE who has to look for the others, be always the ice-breaker, mantain the conversation and invite someone somewhere, if someone is looking for me it will be only for asking help and no more (of which I am sometimes guilty also).

[ahinton]

With technology like msm, hotmail and Facebook, we cannot lose contact with the others, but it doesn't help on preserving the true relationships. ie: In the msm I can be available for hours during the day, waiting for someone who can initiate a conversation with me, alas I am THE ONE who has to look for the others, be always the ice-breaker, mantain the conversation and invite someone somewhere, if someone is looking for me it will be only for asking help and no more (of which I am sometimes guilty also).

For the record, I have absolutely no desire to plaster myself and my details on Facebook or any equivalent "social networking" site. I have a website that is easily accessed and on which phone, fax, email and snail-mail contact details are all displayed; beyond that presence, I see no reason whatsoever to advertise on a "social networking" site or such like facility anything about myself and those with whom I am acquinted, regardless of who might or might not want to know, nor can I see why doing so would either make me any more more easily contactable or enhance or maintain any relationships. That's a matter of personal viewpoint and choice, of course but, as you say, these facilities do nothing to help preserve such relationships.

Best,

Alistair

[thompson_321]

In this age of technological advances, communication means texting, facebook chatting, etc, and I HATE it.  I try my hardest to talk to people in person.

Tell your ways of preserving the human relationship in a cyber run world!

I don't hate any of it. It speeds communication up. How else are we going to progress?

[punkpianist360]

I don't hate any of it. It speeds communication up. How else are we going to progress?

In a decades time, most kids won't even know how to use a pencil or pen!!  Simply, just typing or voice to text, or whatever, maybe typing will be a thing of the past by then.  We will become so materialistic that we will be basically helpless with this "fantastic" technology.  Once something breaks, most of the idiots won't know sh*t on how to fix it, or, scarier, they won't have any writing skills cause they will be relying on iPads, iPods, etc etc. 

[punkpianist360]

I have nothing against progressing, just as long as humanity don't become dim-witted idiots.  I'm simply stating that we should still practice basic skills that we learned when we were in kindergarten, back in the80's, 90's, etc.

[pianowolfi]

In a decades time, most kids won't even know how to use a pencil or pen!!  Simply, just typing or voice to text, or whatever, maybe typing will be a thing of the past by then.  We will become so materialistic that we will be basically helpless with this "fantastic" technology.  Once something breaks, most of the idiots won't know sh*t on how to fix it, or, scarier, they won't have any writing skills cause they will be relying on iPads, iPods, etc etc. 

That's indeed the reality, it seems. And they will have an attention span of 4.3 nanoseconds. And everybody who plays an acoustic piano will be a freak.

[nanabush]

If I get a text message, I'll usually just call the person back to at least be talking, not using this stupid "lol, brb, 10min til im there" bs.

Skype is pretty cool; a face to face conversation halfway across the world  that's probably one of the better ways of preserving interaction... either that or pay for a 2000 dollar plain ticket to see them face to face.