Friday, May 18, 2007

I've been away...


I wish I could say it was to some peaceful isle where I pondered the nature of existence. Alas, I was merely stranded without internet connection after I moved house. For someone whose job is online and who is normally online daily, it was a pretty gruesome challenge. Where oh where would I find out about the news/ the weather/ the name of that thing I saw in a film the other week?!

I'm not sure if we've (I've) become addicted to the internet, but on filling in a 'support network' questionnaire the other day, I did list it as fulfilling two of my social needs. The experience of working on an offline computer was strangely peaceful; whilst it no longer had the pull of the internet, it was a place where I could purely focus on one task. That's quite rare.

However, I'm not a Luddite and the world is changing. Socialising and information is accessed increasingly through the web. It's a natural reaction to view new ideas as inferior or potentially damaging; we mistrust them. But for kids (myself not included) it's becoming an integral part of their lives, often pushed by schools. Interactive learning and ICT are big news in education.

I've learnt to embrace the blogosphere and the sharing of ideas and thoughts with like minded people from all over the world is something I find novel and stimulating. I'm less enamoured with the social networking sites of Myspace and Facebook's ilk. Various blogs have talked authoritatively on their shortcomings in social interaction so I wont go there, except to offer my amateur take on it, which is: they just don't feel right. I react against them and see them as largely superficial, juvenile and a substandard replacement for the real thing.

But I expect in 50 years it will seems as harmful as a telephone call. Speaking to someone that's not in front of you?! Preposterous!