Also, I totally disagree with 3 Body about today's young generation being the first to 'voluntarily and habitually write' for 'expressive and social purposes' -if you laid out all the fanzines produced in the 80s and 90s, they'd stretch to Mars.
I prefer my conversations to be embodied, so I can pick up on body language and whatever chemical signals that might be wafting about in the atmosphere.
There's a reason why businessmen fly halfway round the world to shake hands on a deal.
^ if you consider "OMG 4 real LOL" "writing", that is.
I often find the electronically mediated asynchronous communication introduced by the Internet preferable to F2F because it allows me to think for 10 seconds or 2 minutes before replying
You spent too much time of your youth in record shops and have a skewed view.
Yeah, probably where I picked up useless social skills like engaging in 'banter' and not running to Wikipedia every time I want to reply to someone.
But turning this argument on its head - what % of the populace has constant access to Facebook?
I'd go with that - people just have to be slightly less direct in the 'real' world. It's always mystified me why people think that any online dating is that different from er, offline dating - the precise formulation of the relationship may be different, but the people and their desires/idiosyncracies/foibles are just the same at base.
On the original question (sort of), the phenomenon of people sending one friend invites on F***book (I went back on to retrieve some pictures from someone, and haven't left again, to my shame, tho I barely use it), without so much as a 'hello', and then not answering when you send a simple 'how have you been' message, not the most irritating thing in the entire world?
What is up with those people? i thought i was mildly desperate sometimes before facebook arrived, but it's made me realise how utterly desperate a significant proportion of people are to show they're liked, and I just don't care to half that extent. Is it social approbation they're seeking, or is it somehow linked in to a weird way of circumventing loneliness (a kind of idea that loneliness is not a lack of actual contact any more, but a lack of potential contact, so that IF you needed to, you'd have 420 people you could speak to, althought inevitably tht's not actually true....work with me here, I'm formulating as I'm writing...) ?
On the other hand, these things make me think I'm saner than most of the world, which is very therapeutic.
Everybody between 12 and 25...
F2F encounters are often dominated by those good at glib one-liners, with the speedy response times required lessening the likelihood of speakers coming up with anything original or risking something especially thought-provoking
F2F encounters are often dominated by those good at glib one-liners
One thing I think younger people don't realize yet is that sometimes it's very nice to be unreachable.
It's funny to think that there's a generation that's grown up with handheld electronic devices and never knew a life without them.
Edit: Have you noticed people in your classes doing AIM/instant messaging on their cell phones??
It's funny to think that there's a generation that's grown up with shoes and never knew a life without them.
Congratulations advertising industry, you have convinced Mixed Biscuits that wearing "Vibram Five Fingers" isn't in fact wearing a certain kind of shoe! Well done.