Homo Digital. Why not?
Can we start to evolve much faster?
Today’s social interactions are much different than those of our parents or even (if we don’t want to look that far back) those from 10 years back. What has changed? The answer is simple, Internet. This article won’t be another rant about how technology is “killing” social interactions, how sitting in front of pc, laptop or smartphone is bad for health, and so on. The fact is that we are living in a technological society where people are born into new schemes of functioning and the rest is getting used to it, some much faster, and others are lagging behind.
Homo digital — we start to evolve much faster
More than 20 years ago it was still a problem to speak and reach people who were living much further than you, and sometimes those who were living on the other side of the globe could be treated as citizens of another planet. Thanks to the internet and using new social media platforms the world has shrunk considerably. Right now exchanging information, ideas, and of course memes with people from any place in the world is something we are used to.
As you can see during the last 20 years we have leaped as societies in more ways than only communication, but communication is the main subject of this article so I will stick with it. During the last 5 years, social media platforms have become the main medium of providing information, finding friends, and social interactions. You don’t have to leave your “safe” zone to know more, reach further and meet new people. The main advantage that we get thanks to it is anonymity. Like a popular meme used to say:
In the web, no one knows you are [put whatever you like here], no one. This is true. In social media, you can be anyone you like. You can show your life from a more interesting and colourful perspective.
I have once received birthday wishes which said “I hope your life would be as interesting as you are showing it on Facebook”. Well, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and since then I have changed my approach towards social media. But that is me, anyway back to the point.
Less stress because no one knows
Anonymity has its benefits. If someone is judging you through the web the judgment isn’t put on you, but on your anonymous persona, so in the end, no one, not a soul knows what you are thinking about something. That gives you some sort of safe distance from the chaos that is often occurring on the web. Because when lots of conflicting ideas, viewpoints, believes, etc. are put together in one place we get a boiling pot, and I am talking sun temperature, plasma boiling pot.
And how all of it influence social interactions? It, at least in my opinion makes them much easier. Today finding new friends is simple. For instance, you have your favourite thing, subject, hobby, and so on, that keeps you going, so one of the most efficient ways is to look for a group on social media that gathers other people who think maybe not like you, but as close as it can get. That way new contact keeps flowing to your social account. In time those contacts could become friends or people you simply ignore, forget and move on. On the web, you don’t have to attach in any way to people you meet, and through it, people can be rude, obnoxious, and so on. Of course, it is not signed in the stone, but I bet everyone at least once has met someone who has ruined their day through their comments or the way of speaking about things that are important to them.
We are surrounded by technology. Kids and teenagers today know how to operate new gadgets by instinct, while the older generation needs time to learn and understand what they are doing. The main argument that is used in media, which is confusing for me is that kids don’t know daily struggles and all they do is being glued to various “silver” screens. Well, why not? Those silver screens were there when those kids were born, so the younger generation is thrown into the world where you can learn how to operate a smartphone by the age of 3. Is that wrong? That is debatable, but the fact remains that amount of technology will only grow during their life. Each year we are using more and more techno stuff, so more basic things like interactions with each other must be impacted by it as well. Last year was a very important milestone. Pandemic happened, restrictions were put, and most of daily life started to happen inside the home.
New life of social media
Because of the restrictions, social media as a communication tool started to become more and more necessary. Most people can’t fulfil their work obligations without speaking with various people during the day, and right now it is impossible. Because of the need to communicate main social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are quickly evolving, giving the users new features to improve their experience, and get as much close to “life” experience as possible.
Interesting thing is that people made the transition from life to digital quickly. Spending more time in front of silver screens didn’t required a drastic life change. The opportunity to act differently and utilise new technologies more effectively was always there, pandemic made us reach out for it sooner than expected.
Will social interactions change back when the pandemic is finally over? I doubt that. Previous experiences show that we can function effectively by using the web tools, and comfort, simplicity, and of course anonymity connected with it would be too hard to give up. I don’t think that social interactions and the creation of a homo digital pattern of humans is bad. Is it the next step in global behaviour? I have no idea, but I am pretty sure that this is an opportunity that will give us some benefits to better find our place in the ever-changing (and recently at a really fast pace) world.
by Leszek Jasiński
