I gotta be honest the entertainment factor on this show is great. I mean the twist half way through the show, when the actual catfish on the other end of the modem is revealed, is brilliant. The shock, the fear, the utter drama, muah, beautiful! I savor the drama. But apart from the entertaining quality of the show, taking a step back, the show does give us an insight into the changing nature of relationship in our culture.
Since this is a blog, I don't have to make an overt effort to be articulate, so here's my thoughts. Technology has in a way connects us in great ways, we are more connected than ever, but the quality of our connection is purely artificial. The internet degrades relationships. It reduces us, the entire multidimensionality complex interaction of personality, experience, family of origin, environment, language, culture, community etc... are reduced to a chat box. You are getting to know someone in such a restricted way. Now, don't get me wrong, the internet is a great thing, it has the potential to increase and facilitate preexisting relationships. But if your depending the internet for your only source of relationship and connection, all your really expressing and getting is a reduced and restricted form of relationship.
So this begs the question, is people depending on the internet for relationship the cause or the result of the problem? I think its true that technology has increased our contact with others, and has reduced meaningful contact among people. I also think life has sped up rapidly from even a hundred years ago, were doing more, working more, eating more, driving more, have more things, and have more bills, so its hard to meet that need for relationship. So people seek it out on the internet, and then people get dooped by Catfishes. So, not to cop out, but I think its a mixture of both cause and effect. It is a demonstration of a covert issue in our country, we don't know how to have balance, and how to connect with others in meaningful ways. The internet is convenient and easier.
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ReplyDeleteWell said, Dan. Do you not feel sometimes that life in the West is just an endless series of competitions? I am becoming a little less capitalist every year. The fighting to stay on top never ceases, even in academia. I almost have to feel guilty for spending regular time with my wife, since on account of being married I'm missing a dozen faculty colloquia, conference opportunities, publishing opportunities, committee participations, society memberships, workshops, and all forms of "academic socializing" every week. You can't just move forward anymore, not in our share of the world. No, you've got to hold constant and comparable acceleration in all your achievements. Sure, the internet and "culture" may mix together in depriving us of relationship. I do think the mix is a bit uneven.
ReplyDeleteI think the shift to getting our need primarily from the internet is an indication of where are culture is. I'm sure there is a bit of an interaction between the two, it would be indeed a rather sticky task to figure the cause and subsequent result. When I look at these kinds of issues I tend to use a cybernetic analysis approach, seeing problems in the framework of a system.
DeleteCulture is a system, an event or action affects another person or group, they react, which in turn affects others. In simpler terms, were affected by advancements in technology, we have increased contact with each other, but on a reduced level, which doesn't satisfy our need for relationship, so we seek it out through online relationships.
I totally agree with you Jason, we are stuck in an endless cycle of achieving more and more. Makes you appreciate Sabbath!
Indeed! It even makes Sabbath into as much discipline as rest.
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