Why is the 21st century making us miserable?
We've built an all-encompassing web of technology dedicated to avoiding people.We shop online so we can avoid people in the supermarket.We spend a fortune on a home theatre system so we can avoid the annoyance of going to the cinema. Filter from your world that chatty person next to you in a queue by plugging in your iPod and texting your mates.
The problem is that tolerating annoyance is necessary in a world populated by other people who aren't you. As long as you have needs, you'll have to deal with people you can't stand from time to time. Technology is ensuring we lose that vital ability.
These days, whatever your interests, you can find a forum and meet a dozen people just like you. Say goodbye to the painful process of dealing with somebody who's different. That's another OldWorld inconvenience. Fifty years ago people were unable to filter their peers in this way, but still managed to have more close friends than we have now – people they could trust.
They say 40 percent of your personality is lost in the text transition, so do your online friends even really know you? How often do they get a different message than the one you sent? For example, sarcasm is just mismatching the words with the tone. So how can we effectively communicate by text or email? In face-to-face conversation, only 7% of meaning is in the words; the rest is nonverbal.
We are losing the art of criticism and gaining the ability to insult, especially online. In my time online I've been insulted lots, but I've been criticized very little. Don't ever confuse the two. Criticism is someone trying to help you, by telling you something about yourself that you were a little too comfortable not knowing. Your response to this criticism helps build trust with friends over time. Tragically, these common quirks and vulnerabilities that real friendships are built on are disappearing online.
We are programmed by evolution to need to do things for and with people, to interact face to face. Most office jobs these days make us miserable because we don't get physical, tangible results from our work. Do some building work out in the hot sun for two months, and you can say, "I built that. That’s my work."Work for two months in your office and what have you achieved?
So why not turn off the computer, go outdoors and re-connect with the real world? That feeling can't be matched by anything the Internet has to offer, but I guess we are too far down the line.
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