Is the technology connecting us more or isolating us more?

Depends on how it's used and the context. Technology has allowed me to connect with people far away or who have moved. It's connected me to vastly different cultures.

What's just occurred to me is what lies behind that very wooly, largely meaningless word technology, and its consequences for social connections.

The first connective "technology" other than what Nature provideth - like speech - could be said to be the inventions of writing, in various cultures and languages, in the last few millennia BCE.

That allowed messages to be carried, facilitated trade, brought books. All connecting people.

In Mediaeval times, William Caxton is credited with the first printing-press. Not so long later, Gutenberg advanced that by developing moveable type - greatly increasing the flexibility anfd efficiency of printing. True, most people were laregely illiterate evebn in their own languages, and most official and religious documents were in Latin, but it was still greatly increasing connections.

It also started the growth of what might be called public communications hence connections - of novels, poetry, drama, music.

The "technology" of music advanced - new and better instruments, more music printed. One very important result was the development of chamber and other small-scale works so people could gather to share music and dancing at amateur as well as professional level.


The 18C brought Science and its brother discpline, Engineering - not only eventually better printing presses but much faster physical communications, by better roads, the canals then the railways and steam-ships.

Late 19C: the Telegraph (Morse messages sent in a sort of binary form, as electrical short and long impulses).

Next, early 20C - voice telephony; and ever faster, more extensive physical transport pof goods and people. The railways had already started the popular tourist trade hitherto a preserve of those with the time and money to travel for weeks and months at a time.

Huge technical developments in printing books, newspapers and magazines.

Radio, first telegraphically by Morse then voice; and its visual extension, television - albeit like books, one-way. Major connective communications of information, education and entertainment.

The telephone - look at the very word! It says as it means, voice-communication between individuals at far distances.
We'd finally arrived at "technology" allowing immediate, two-way personal connections for anyone, at distance.

'

Then came the Internet.....

The computer in its various forms and its connection systems are all brilliant Engineering, but still as much "technology" for communicating and connecting people as the early writing and Caxton's press, even if vastly different physically.

Then came so-called "social media"....

Are they - the "media" - really as "social" as said?

Irrespective of how the engineering may develop, are social-media the zenith of communications and connections between people?

If we think so so, sometimes we ought remember the real meaning and implication of zenith....

I think both. Kind of irritates me when you have guests and they can't part with their phones.

Both. So it depends on the individual.

Definitely both, but sometimes I feel it is a bad thing.
It is great to communicate with anyone throughout the world at any time of the day. But that is also a bad thing because you can never get away from work!!

In the wake of the pandemic 😷
“The feeling that ‘no one is listening to me’ makes us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us”
🤷‍♂️

It does not depends what you let it do, but on what you let yourself do with it.

You have the ultimate control. It's called the "OFF" switch...

Both. I think the detrimental affects are more than the beneficial.

Isolating us because more and more jobs are being done by robots , more and more people are shopping online etc so less excuse to leave home , so were not mixing as we used to .It wont be long before schooling is done online as well and kids will have no reason to leave home , will never make friends etc .

I see this as a double edged thing. Yes it means I can part a team based in another part of the country and as someone else has said keep in touch much easier. But it will always be limited and there is nothing like actually meeting someone

Overall, it's definitely contributing to our being more isolated.
It's part of the agenda.

A little bit of both but it has made it easy to communicate with people on the other side of the planet. Which is a good thing.

Both? I mean … look at all the connections here? But notice how in person is distracted by phones and how many are stuck on zoom calls

It does both at the same time...connecting us more strongly to a smaller, more "like me" group, which doesn't often mirror reality.

5G ... is the beginning of the end there will only be smart things not smart peoples

Both. I am isolating people in real life but I feel connected with you all here.

I think it's more isolating than connecting.

Isolating in my opinion

I think a bit of both.

Both?

Both

These days? Isolating us more. Think of all the variants we would have if it wasn't!