Is Society Becoming Less Substantive?
Or, as I recently pondered on my Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn and Twitter status updates (via HelloTxt):
Andrew wonders whether or not the ubiquity of micro-blogging has diminished our capacity for substantive conversation...
Is our reliance on the immediacy of information, and our apparent fascination with providing up-to-the-minute reports on our daily activities getting in the way of deep, and meaningful communication?
The jury is out (for a very short recess), but I'm very tempted to say, "YES!"
For myself, I get very busy during the summer. Each year since I started blogging, I've found that my post count goes way down in the summer months, relative to other times in the year, and this year is no exception. But I also notice that this year, since I started really using Twitter, as well as the status updates functionality on the various social networks, I've been less inclined to take the time to sit down and write any lengthy commentary. As a result, I haven't posted anything here since early July, even though there have been plenty of subjects worthy of discussion.
In an effort to reverse this trend, I am committing myself (no pun intended) to writing at least one post per week for the next two months. And I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of what we did this summer (Camping, Family Fun Day, the Beach, Technology Projects, etc).
We spend so much time saying so little of anything useful, that we are not inclined to say anything meaningful even when given a chance to do so. I enjoy the fact that over the past 3 or 4 months, I've been getting reunited with friends and colleagues through the social networks -- but, at the same time, there is a sense that we are just cramming more and more activities into smaller and smaller windows.
What we need are more deep, abiding friendships, and less casual acquaintances, and the way to cultivate the former is not via texting, microblogging or IM...
Is the trend reversible? That's a very good question.
About Logik!
Andrew S. Baker aka ASB aka Logik!
Andrew is an accomplished, hands-on IT Executive with a solid track record of providing timely and cost-effective business solutions using technology. With over 16 years experience in Information Technology, he has proven to be effective both as a Team Leader and as an individual contributor in designing, deploying, securing and maintaining enterprise networks.
His personal interests include Astronomy, Basketball, Bible Study, Chess, Comics, Computers,
Family Life Ministries, Reading and Strategy/Role Playing games...
Some of his contributions include several whitepapers on technology and Information Security, the UltraTech Knowledgebase, various postings to technology mailing lists and forums, active participation on LinkedIn Answers, along with a number of interviews for articles published in industry magazines.
A condensed version of
Andrew's current resume is available here.