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Yeah, I think so. I mean, I know that there are other factors, like environment, upbringing, association, etc. But for me, the best way to learn something for example, like driving a car, is hands-on. But lately Im also guilty of preferring to interact this way, rather than going downtown and striking up convos with strangers. It can be awkward if not downright embarassing these days with all the paranoia going on. So if this makes me retarded socially, then maybe so. However, I would like to think that I am just reacting to modern technology.
Online networking has a great social advantage as well. Online, gender, race, socioeconomic status, disability, and other social factors vanish. Online interaction levels the playing field for a lot of people who don't stand a chance in real life. You get direct access to the individual's personality, without being distracted or influenced by other social factors.
Online social networking is great and beneficial when it supplements your daily routine.
After a day at work, or a hard day at home taking care of the family, getting on your computer and talking to friends and inviting new contact is great. It is relaxing, and provides a way to get new contacts and opinions into your life.
Extensive networking can become detrimental when it becomes the dominant focus in your life. When the reliance on networking becomes so dominate that it replaces friendship of face to face contact, it can alter your self opinion. It can give you an exaggerated status of your social skills, and when confronted with real life experiences it can result in coming up short on your ability to respond.
Social networking is great----just dont let it get in the way of human contact and socialization.
Online networking has a great social advantage as well. Online, gender, race, socioeconomic status, disability, and other social factors vanish. Online interaction levels the playing field for a lot of people who don't stand a chance in real life. You get direct access to the individual's personality, without being distracted or influenced by other social factors.
How in the world do you figure it levels the playing field? Even after a marathon Farmville session with Warren Buffett, you're still poor at the end of the day. It doesn't change anything for you in real life. Maybe in virtual land, but not in real life. This becomes a problem, IMO, when people begin to not be able to tell the two apart (virtual life vs. real life). I can't help but think about all those smug a**holes who spend hours playing WoW. In virtual land, they think they are the sh*t. In reality, they are probably some overweight, pimple-faced underemployed dweeb who lives in his mother's basement.
You get direct access to how the individual wants to portray him/herself on the Internet. As all of us forum posters probably know by now, a person on the Internet has the tendency not to be the same person you will meet in reality.
For instance, on a lonelier evening, I've been known to hit up craigslist on occassion to see if there are potential friends or meetups to check out. People will post all kinds of great things about themselves, how they are adventurous, exciting, want to meet new people, etc. You might even be lucky enough to get a few emails out of the person. But then, when you try to meet up with these people, they become totally unavailable. What happened to being "exciting and wanting to meet new people"? In my experience, people tend to be delusional and fake on the Internet.
The fact of the matter is that most people portray themselves differently on the Internet than they do in real life. You are not getting access to anything other than their virtual personality. My messages is don't kid yourself into thinking you know somebody because you have access to their Facebook profile.
They actually called their friends on the telephone or made plans in-person to hang out, lol.
I may be young, but I do remember a life without social networking!
The good "ole" days...
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