I know what you mean, person I met on the internet. ;-)

But seriously, I agree that in some ways we are getting more isolated, but in others we are definitely having our horizons opened! I mean, think about all the things you wouldn't know, wouldn't be able to find out, or wouldn't even realized have happened until possibly months later.

I remember the days before the internet. IT SUCKED. I mean, look at us now: having a discussion on a forum where I literally don't know where you are on the planet. That's pretty freaking sweet.

[I apologize for this not making much sense, I'm really exhausted at work (in IT!), but wanted to contribute]

It's an interesting little post there GB.

Like most things the danger comes from over reliance on one source of information and not being savvy to to the local parlance employed at the information well one is using.

In the past most people got there news from a professional broadcaster (usually with lobbying groups influencing a not always open editorial stance). They got most of their information from a very small library of books and had a very small network of connections (usually closed to the locality where they lived and/or worked).

The people on here are from all over the world, most of them have never physically met so the sorts of interactions on display here would not be possible only a few decades ago and some of things being created from those discussions could not have been created just a few years ago.

That's a positive thing but without a degree of moderation and awareness of the large degree of artifice involved there is a danger of individuals either forgetting that they are addressing a human being or becoming so addicted to the unfolding narrative that events within it are taken far too seriously.

Technology provides tools, which can sometimes allow us to do new things but usually just allow us to extend our reach while doing the things we would have done if those tools were not available.

So it can allow a creative person to be more creative, a jovial prankster to make more people giggle and for a lonely person to become even more lost in a much larger and diverse crowd.

^Our future thanks to technology. Just sayin'.

I for one wish my friends and family down south would use the internet more because I only get to see them a couple of times a year and if they were on the web I could see and talk to them with more ease.

The telephone can be quite pricey if I phone at the wrong time and with some of them I'm never sure when to phone because they have odd shift jobs and/or young children so there you have an example of the lack of digital technology closing off avenues of social interaction.

bkev said:

^Our future thanks to technology. Just sayin'.

Probably not, though.

If it wasn't for this webzone I wouldn't be meeting xhonzi in a few months.

I don't know about that but it certainly has destroyed films with too much CGI.

The original star wars trilogy was ruined, and the prequels and Indiana jones IV ruined by misuse of CGI.

No, it's true.  This webzone gets the credit.

I have friends, but they are rarely around. You guys are always here LOL.