Thursday, August 21, 2008

Disconnecting People

On the bus into work this morning I had a thought, yes it happens occassionally and yes it hurts. I thought to myself that in this age of technological advance the human race is becoming more and more isolated, despite the protestations of the likes of Nokia that they are "connecting people". Not only are we becoming isolated from people around us by living in our technological bubble where we communicate only by SMS, Skype or email, but technology is also impoverishing our ability to live with people different from ourselves.

In particular I was thinking about internet dating sites, and the kind of adverts you get on them - you know the thing, "blonde 45 years young mother of 2 seeks soul mate, must be......". Has our world in its headlong rush to be "modern" forgotten the simple pleasures of going to the pub and meeting random strangers? I have a softspot for the "going to the pub" approach as that is how I met my wife, who is in many ways my polar opposite. Would she have replied to a classified saying "nearly 30 football fan seeks woman, must like beer, football, loud music and in-depth philosophical/religious/political discussions"? I am not so sure. My wife asked me in return if I would have answered an ad for "27 yr old wannabe homemaker searching for a hard working male with good sperm and sexual ability, must be clean cut, willing to listen to hours of drivel and likes the paranormal". Hmmm, quite. Yet here we are, and as I just said to her, thank god for pubs and being forced to talk to people.

Technology is making us a less human, less forgiving society where a person can be rejected simply because he or she doesn't share our values and interests. For our world to truly progress we need to rediscover the people around us, the community that we would in any other age be part of. For us to build "tolerant" societies we need to be actively engaged with the people around us, to realise that just because the neighbour likes jazz rather than rock doesn't make them any less worthwhile; just because someone didn't go to university doesn't negate their intelligence; just because someone likes the same sports isn't a basis for a relationship.

I was encouraged this week to read that only 5% of British people don't know their next door neighbours by name, I imagine in Prague that would be the exact opposite.

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