In this paper I will argue that technology—and Internet technology in particular—makes us more alone. This isolation is most evident when the Internet ceases to function. It seems like a regular occurrence that certain major websites go down due to hackers or technical problems. When a bank website is out of service, or when Facebook seems slow, Internet users are frustrated because they begin to sense how isolated they truly are. We can just imagine what would happen if a major government or global commerce website went down for just a few days. The Internet or social technology gives us a false sense of connectedness. But when this technology ceases to work even temporarily, we realize just how alone it makes us.
Arguably, people are more connected today than they have ever been in history. With the development of mass transit (e.g. highways), rapid inter-continental modes of transportation (e.g. planes), and mass communication (e.g. telephone, Internet), the world seems smaller and people seem closer together. But with this physical proximity seems to come a sense of psychological isolation. Today, we’re more lonely and distant from each other and the world around us than we have ever been. And this isolation is having a negative impact on our relationships.
In her book “Alone Together” (2011), Sherry Turkle argues that social technology such as Facebook isolates us from the real world (Turkle, 2011). She states that while we do use social technology to keep up with friends and acquaintances that we’ve met, we also use it to speak with people we have not met before. Many Internet technologies are like this (Price, 2011). When speaking to a customer service representative through a website’s “chat” feature, I have quicker access to my interlocutor, but I am less connected to them. Technology mediates our relationship in such a way that our physical intimacy, our connectedness, is reduced. As Turkle correctly points out, many social technologies like Facebook, Google+, or Instagram have a similar effect (Turkle 2011). They make our communications faster, but they do not make them more intimate. This decrease in the frequency of intimate communication (i.e. being in the same room with one’s interlocutor) contributes to our sense of being alone.
Similarly, social technology causes problems in our more intimate physical relationships. And these new problems contribute further contribute to our isolation. Some research shows that our non-virtual discussion networks have shrunk by as much as a third since the 1985 (New Media Institute, 2010). As mentioned, because of social technology, there exists a stronger motivation to give virtual relationships more than non-virtual ones. This has negative consequences on our non-virtual relationships. For example, conflicts can erupt around the dinner table if people are paying more attention to their phones than their family members. Such conflicts exacerbate our sense of isolation by further decreasing the frequency and quality of non-virtual relationships.
Technology increases the quantity and efficiency of our interactions, but it decreases the quality of our interactions in terms of intimacy. I have argued that technology, especially Internet or social technology, makes us more alone. I first supported this claim by appeal to the increased number of virtual relationships. Then I supported this claim by appeal to effect of prioritizing virtual relationships over non-virtual ones on the quality of the latter and on our sense of isolation.
Works Cited
New Media Institute. (2010). Social Isolation and New Technology. New Media Institute. Retrieved from http://www.newmedia.org/articles/social-isolation-and-new-technology-.html
Price, Michael. (2011). Alone in the Crowd. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/06/social-networking.aspx
Turkle, S. (2012). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic books.
