Are we Logging Off??
(c) 2009 Puja Goyal
Magazine: Live IT
Month of Publication: June 2009
The advent of Internet Technology had changed the phase of communication. People seemed to be logging off their real lives and logging onto their virtual worlds. Communication was faster, less tedious and involved less movement from one place to another. The impact of the same in personal lives was determined only after we realized that we have to now relearn how to interact on a personal level sans a computer screen.
This could be one reason why “Log off the Internet Day” was initiated by a group of activists in 1999 to make the public aware of the impacting Internet Technology is making on real life communities. “Log Off the Internet Day” is celebrated on the first Saturday after the start of summer in your hemisphere on which you are supposed to stay off the internet. It meant No email, chat, IMs, game playing or surfing; the end result is that no one would have anything to do with the internet or the computer for that matter. As a substitute to that a person could indulge in doing business on a personal level or pamper himself by going to the movies, meeting up friends, chilling out at home with friends, going out for lunch; whatever a person would like to do outside the internet.
The most important question that comes to my mind right now is – are we logging off the internet? Although the internet is providing faster means of communication; a new school of thought has emerged in social spheres. Regardless of the facilities it offers, individuals have begun to miss the personal touch that human contact provides, “My friend and I have been writing to each other for the past fifteen years, I look forward to her letters every week. She is in London now…” continues Rashmi (homemaker), “I miss those letters now. I admit that I receive her letters via email; but, you know when you receive a handwritten letter, you can feel the person much more intensely. It’s very personal.”
Shail might not like writing letter but he is fazing out of the system, “I’m getting a little fed- up with the internet. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m completely uninterested now. I don’t like sitting on the internet. I would rather meet friends outside the internet, hang out, play basketball, go to the movies…. I just do the bare essentials online, and log out.” Aarthi (a student) adds another angle to the story, “I was a member of all these social networking websites and had many email ids; because I got so many requests from friends. The truth is I hardly visit any of them apart from Orkut or FaceBook.”
It was determined three years ago that on an average a normal teen would spend about 72 hours a week on the internet; apart from, video games and other miscellaneous activities on the computer. Initially, it was said that social networking websites do work in making friends. The truth is social networking websites are more apt for people with technical focus; for example, artists, and engineers networking in their own fields or students of a college or a university. The idea is to connect individuals with common interests, which can be pursued seriously for a specific purpose offline. On the other hand social networking websites which are used to make friends with strangers don’t really work. “Having a huge network of online buddies does not mean you have any more close friends than the rest of us”, a British researcher says.
Social networking sites like FaceBook and Orkut have changed the way people connect by making it easier to collect hundreds of friends online. “Individuals with for example, 126 friends on their Orkut list don’t necessarily interact with them regularly. It is humanly impossible to keep in touch with 1,752 friends on a personal level; don’t you think??” says, Bhageshri.
“Nearly all close friends require face- to – face contact,” said Will Reader in a meeting sponsored by the British Association for the advancement of science. He also added that his research reiterated the fact that 90 % of the individuals said it was essential to know a person face- to face to form an intimate bond. Having to see each other face – to – face allows people to interpret and read facial clues to see if friends can be counted upon. “It’s important to laugh together,” Reader adds.
In a gist, even if individuals have umpteen numbers of friends in their social friends list, they also kept a very discreet number of close friends; which did not change. The growing desperation to feel emotions, personal touch, and knowing each other for who they are; is shifting people from online to offline.
Internet users in India are now concentrating on interacting through fewer social networking websites. The most used social networking websites in India are; Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook, Orkut, and LinkedIn. The rest are fazing out and trying their best to survive. The primary reason is the tediousness of signing in and out of them and wasting precious time trying to reply to people. “I would rather call my best friend up than send messages through ten social networking websites,” says Karthic.
“Twitter is my main communication website. But, I belong to about 20 social networking websites in total. The main ones I use are FaceBook, LinkedIn, and TakingItGlobal. The big move in the web 2.0 world is that everyone is creating a participatory website. So I also belong to niche networks like: Freelance Union, Social Media Today, etc” says Natalie Rodic.
The trend now indicates internet users moving onto a much more focused and discreet networking style. Networking with individuals where they stand to gain in terms of knowledge and expertise. Natalie adds, “I love the world of social media. But I need to have face time with real people on a daily basis as well. Working from home all the time, I have to MAKE that happen. If I spend all day on social networks I do feel a bit isolated and lonely.”
Internet users have also started off logging off websites based on the changes which take place within the network. “Twitter for me these days. I stopped loving FaceBook with this most recent makeover”, Rodic comments. There are a growing number of people who have an aversion to change. They want to remain loyal to what they are familiar with. FaceBook has been facing a lot of criticism by users for changing their layout.
MSN Chat and Yahoo chat was launched a couple of years ago. Everyone was excited about going global and with the prospect of talking to someone across the world. They were inquisitive with the idea that a mere internet like thing could actually take you around the world. Back then interacting with strangers was an interesting prospect. Today, a large number of people do not appreciate being “pinged” by strangers. They just do not want to be approached by random individuals wanting to be “best friends”. They find it time consuming and baseless.
Further investigation revealed that in comparison to consecrated social networking websites, like FaceBook; Orkut allowed for more accessibility to strangers. Marion Sarah Ksing, who works as a Textile Designer is tired of random people trying to make friends with “I hardly log onto Orkut. It was okay and nice getting in touch with people I haven’t heard from in ages. But now it’s lame with random people writing in it”.
There is another group of people who have now moved on from past social networks and relationships to better prospects. “Do we really have to keep in touch with everyone? Don’t we move on? I think sometimes you don’t really have to keep the world informed about your affairs. Most importantly, I’d like to keep my friends, family and office associates separate. I don’t want everyone to know who I network with and my important contacts,” says Juliana. Internet users are now concentrating their internet communications. They are now moving back to E-mails and prefer a one - on - one interaction.
Social Networking is becoming more focused in terms of subject, needs, who internet users want to interact with, where and which social networking website they would like to use and how they want to interact with. Besides this, trends indicate that users are now moving out of the virtual world and taking it into the real world. Internet has now become the medium where individuals interact only if there is a possibility that they cannot meet offline.
In the past few years, internet communication technology was available to us to be used. The only problem was something like this, which was available instantly, was not treated right. We refrained from informed communication. The abuse of technology was a direct result of our curiosity and unawareness of how to deal with the communication outlet available in front of us. “Your questions reflect that you are documenting changing mindsets and technologies. My opinion is people have to a certain extent abused this technology. They have spent more time in the virtual world, which I don’t claim is right or wrong, but their dependency has let for some people to be disappointed with the changing scenario,” retrospect’s Abhishek Goyal.
People are smarter now. They are not completely logging off, at the same time; they are not allowing information technology in the form if internet interaction to take over there lives either. A growing number of people are learning fast and avoiding being swept away by this technology. They have decided to use the technology instead of allowing technology to use them.
Magazine: Live IT
Month of Publication: June 2009
The advent of Internet Technology had changed the phase of communication. People seemed to be logging off their real lives and logging onto their virtual worlds. Communication was faster, less tedious and involved less movement from one place to another. The impact of the same in personal lives was determined only after we realized that we have to now relearn how to interact on a personal level sans a computer screen.
This could be one reason why “Log off the Internet Day” was initiated by a group of activists in 1999 to make the public aware of the impacting Internet Technology is making on real life communities. “Log Off the Internet Day” is celebrated on the first Saturday after the start of summer in your hemisphere on which you are supposed to stay off the internet. It meant No email, chat, IMs, game playing or surfing; the end result is that no one would have anything to do with the internet or the computer for that matter. As a substitute to that a person could indulge in doing business on a personal level or pamper himself by going to the movies, meeting up friends, chilling out at home with friends, going out for lunch; whatever a person would like to do outside the internet.
The most important question that comes to my mind right now is – are we logging off the internet? Although the internet is providing faster means of communication; a new school of thought has emerged in social spheres. Regardless of the facilities it offers, individuals have begun to miss the personal touch that human contact provides, “My friend and I have been writing to each other for the past fifteen years, I look forward to her letters every week. She is in London now…” continues Rashmi (homemaker), “I miss those letters now. I admit that I receive her letters via email; but, you know when you receive a handwritten letter, you can feel the person much more intensely. It’s very personal.”
Shail might not like writing letter but he is fazing out of the system, “I’m getting a little fed- up with the internet. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m completely uninterested now. I don’t like sitting on the internet. I would rather meet friends outside the internet, hang out, play basketball, go to the movies…. I just do the bare essentials online, and log out.” Aarthi (a student) adds another angle to the story, “I was a member of all these social networking websites and had many email ids; because I got so many requests from friends. The truth is I hardly visit any of them apart from Orkut or FaceBook.”
It was determined three years ago that on an average a normal teen would spend about 72 hours a week on the internet; apart from, video games and other miscellaneous activities on the computer. Initially, it was said that social networking websites do work in making friends. The truth is social networking websites are more apt for people with technical focus; for example, artists, and engineers networking in their own fields or students of a college or a university. The idea is to connect individuals with common interests, which can be pursued seriously for a specific purpose offline. On the other hand social networking websites which are used to make friends with strangers don’t really work. “Having a huge network of online buddies does not mean you have any more close friends than the rest of us”, a British researcher says.
Social networking sites like FaceBook and Orkut have changed the way people connect by making it easier to collect hundreds of friends online. “Individuals with for example, 126 friends on their Orkut list don’t necessarily interact with them regularly. It is humanly impossible to keep in touch with 1,752 friends on a personal level; don’t you think??” says, Bhageshri.
“Nearly all close friends require face- to – face contact,” said Will Reader in a meeting sponsored by the British Association for the advancement of science. He also added that his research reiterated the fact that 90 % of the individuals said it was essential to know a person face- to face to form an intimate bond. Having to see each other face – to – face allows people to interpret and read facial clues to see if friends can be counted upon. “It’s important to laugh together,” Reader adds.
In a gist, even if individuals have umpteen numbers of friends in their social friends list, they also kept a very discreet number of close friends; which did not change. The growing desperation to feel emotions, personal touch, and knowing each other for who they are; is shifting people from online to offline.
Internet users in India are now concentrating on interacting through fewer social networking websites. The most used social networking websites in India are; Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook, Orkut, and LinkedIn. The rest are fazing out and trying their best to survive. The primary reason is the tediousness of signing in and out of them and wasting precious time trying to reply to people. “I would rather call my best friend up than send messages through ten social networking websites,” says Karthic.
“Twitter is my main communication website. But, I belong to about 20 social networking websites in total. The main ones I use are FaceBook, LinkedIn, and TakingItGlobal. The big move in the web 2.0 world is that everyone is creating a participatory website. So I also belong to niche networks like: Freelance Union, Social Media Today, etc” says Natalie Rodic.
The trend now indicates internet users moving onto a much more focused and discreet networking style. Networking with individuals where they stand to gain in terms of knowledge and expertise. Natalie adds, “I love the world of social media. But I need to have face time with real people on a daily basis as well. Working from home all the time, I have to MAKE that happen. If I spend all day on social networks I do feel a bit isolated and lonely.”
Internet users have also started off logging off websites based on the changes which take place within the network. “Twitter for me these days. I stopped loving FaceBook with this most recent makeover”, Rodic comments. There are a growing number of people who have an aversion to change. They want to remain loyal to what they are familiar with. FaceBook has been facing a lot of criticism by users for changing their layout.
MSN Chat and Yahoo chat was launched a couple of years ago. Everyone was excited about going global and with the prospect of talking to someone across the world. They were inquisitive with the idea that a mere internet like thing could actually take you around the world. Back then interacting with strangers was an interesting prospect. Today, a large number of people do not appreciate being “pinged” by strangers. They just do not want to be approached by random individuals wanting to be “best friends”. They find it time consuming and baseless.
Further investigation revealed that in comparison to consecrated social networking websites, like FaceBook; Orkut allowed for more accessibility to strangers. Marion Sarah Ksing, who works as a Textile Designer is tired of random people trying to make friends with “I hardly log onto Orkut. It was okay and nice getting in touch with people I haven’t heard from in ages. But now it’s lame with random people writing in it”.
There is another group of people who have now moved on from past social networks and relationships to better prospects. “Do we really have to keep in touch with everyone? Don’t we move on? I think sometimes you don’t really have to keep the world informed about your affairs. Most importantly, I’d like to keep my friends, family and office associates separate. I don’t want everyone to know who I network with and my important contacts,” says Juliana. Internet users are now concentrating their internet communications. They are now moving back to E-mails and prefer a one - on - one interaction.
Social Networking is becoming more focused in terms of subject, needs, who internet users want to interact with, where and which social networking website they would like to use and how they want to interact with. Besides this, trends indicate that users are now moving out of the virtual world and taking it into the real world. Internet has now become the medium where individuals interact only if there is a possibility that they cannot meet offline.
In the past few years, internet communication technology was available to us to be used. The only problem was something like this, which was available instantly, was not treated right. We refrained from informed communication. The abuse of technology was a direct result of our curiosity and unawareness of how to deal with the communication outlet available in front of us. “Your questions reflect that you are documenting changing mindsets and technologies. My opinion is people have to a certain extent abused this technology. They have spent more time in the virtual world, which I don’t claim is right or wrong, but their dependency has let for some people to be disappointed with the changing scenario,” retrospect’s Abhishek Goyal.
People are smarter now. They are not completely logging off, at the same time; they are not allowing information technology in the form if internet interaction to take over there lives either. A growing number of people are learning fast and avoiding being swept away by this technology. They have decided to use the technology instead of allowing technology to use them.
Comments