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… we’ve been right. Television, music, video games, movies, etc., have decimated social capital and communication in the western world. It is not uncommon to “h
by lumb63 3y ago
… we’ve been right. Television, music, video games, movies, etc., have decimated social capital and communication in the western world. It is not uncommon to “hang out” with people who are your “friends” without ever interacting with them in any meaningful way because everyone is focused on, e.g., a television. That’s assuming everyone isn’t too busy playing video games to leave their houses.
Whether you agree or not that they’re “eroding the very fabric of a society” (I would argue they are), it should be acknowledged that almost all the downsides predicted have come to pass, and life has gone on not because these things didn’t happen, but in spite of them having happened.
- viraptor 3y agoPeople are interacting through online games quite often though. You can't throw them all in one basket. You can make friends / longer term connections that way (I did) or keep in touch with people you don't live near to.
- badpun 3y agoThat's not community, though. You're not inhabiting the same space, share the same problems and try to work them out them together. You're not helping each other out if someone falls into trouble.
- viraptor 3y agoIt's up to you what you build that way. You can build a real community, you can build a shallow friend group, the medium doesn't have to limit it. My boss met his wife in a MUD.
- badpun 3y agoYou can meet your wife on a Tinder, via ads posted in newspaper or on a cruise. It does not mean that those are communities.
- sapphicsnail 3y agoYou can do all of those things sans inhabit the same space with people you meet online. I met my 2 girlfriends online and we support each other through everything even though we aren't in the same place most of the time. I'm part of a niche group on reddit that supports each other emotionally in a way I've struggled to find in physical spaces. I still meet up with people in physical space, but I absolutely get meaningful social connection from online spaces.