Personal interaction in the "new world"

I'm sure there's been a lot...perhaps too much...written elsewhere about the effects of modern communications methods on the general interaction between people, in particular those of the younger generation. Hell, when have I ever cared about that hahahaha. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and to challenge the status quo.

I have been involved with IT since 1989. I have seen the massive leaps and bounds as the Internet became an available tool for the general populace. Things like mobile phones, email, messenger, social networking, blogs, micro blogs...and they are all eagerly accepted into the general population.

And rightfully so, after all technology is a facilitator, a means to improve our quality of life.

Hmmm...improve our quality of life. Really?

Well I am as guilty as anyone of living with my mobile phone. My excuse has always been "what if there's an emergency?". Well how has mankind survived for centuries without some form of instant communication? Yes, you can always revert to the old argument of "life was different, lifespans were lower, etc etc". I always find those sorts of 'base level arguments' somewhat convenient and not always accurate. More of an excuse to my mind really, to not really have to deal with the issues.

Two people that go out for the evening, have dinner and conversation...and constantly texting on their phones. I had a friend at a party one night that spent the majority of the night texting, and the occasional interruption by talking to other people. It becomes more acceptable to have people answering phone calls in the movies.

I have also seen how these things effect the younger generations. Pre-teens on social networking sites, on messenger programs for hours talking to their friends, racking up hundreds of dollars worth of phone calls on mobile phones. And the one thing that stands out to me is the accelerated rate at which social interaction is thrust upon them.

No longer is it a case of them seeing their friends a couple of times a week outside of school. Now it's every night, every moment, posting their activities on the Facebooks and MySpaces. Sending text messages constantly, and chatting with their friends. The interaction that would normally occur during teen years, happens much earlier. And then the interaction and indeed maturity that would normally be required for early adulthood, happens during the teens.

My question is, has anyone considered if this is healthy? What has the effect of this been?

Also things like the usage of abbreviations to shorten words for text messages and such things as Twitter (which is limited to 140 character length postings). This carries across to messenger programs, which have no such limit but conversely no enforcement so efficiency/laziness rules.

And of course all these convenient forms of communication inevitably lead to things such as breaking up relationships via text message, messenger etc. One person I was talking to recently had their name on messenger set as "What would you say if I said it was over?". I asked if they were breaking up with their partner, they replied "I'm not sure yet, but I'm hoping they get the hint to make it easy for me". Wow.

And a personal dislike of mine is people posting private conversations and bad behaviour on public forums. I saw two acquaintances once posting a conversation on Facebook, organising their Saturday. It went something like "Hey man, I will come over and help you move that pile of dirt", "Great bring the wife and kids", "Yeah its been a while, we haven't seen you since you broke up with blah", "Yeah..." and so on. Now firstly, is it necessary to post this in a public forum? What is wrong with picking up the phone? And even if you cant call, couldn't you do it privately? What's wrong with good old email?

As a side note, is it really a good idea to advertise to the world exactly when you will be away from your house etc? I wont even mention security concerns, privacy of personal information, etc.

And then the posts of drunken, rude or illegal behaviour. "OMG I had such a good night, I have the hangover from hell, got smashed and vomited in the gutter, went home with a random, and ended up doing some serious shit".

Yeah, like we need or want to know. Yes, if you don't want to know you don't have to read it. It's not so much about that. It relates to what I said earlier, what is the effect of all this sort of thing on people?

I hate sounding like some old man, or a prude. I'm not (well you could argue the old, but I don't think I am). Far from it. I just think there is a lot going on that is just accepted as "the way it is". And perhaps there needs to be a little more thought put into it than that.