I have been having virtually the same argument with the people I work with. You know where I work, you know that part of the deal is seeing how the net is used, particularly by kids. There’s been the exponential growth in Web 2.0 services (LJ included – hey, we were social networking even before they’d invented the term!) – and an exponential growth in the divide between those who can see how good, and how much potential these things have and those who think it’s the embodiment of evil. It’s almost impossible to shift the latter group in their opinions.
I get really tired of the endless ‘but why would you want to do this, put all this out there, share photos, chat to people you don’t know…’ And I keep saying ‘But I do know them!’ For kids and young people there’s little distinction between communicating face to face, or via the net/mobile phone/ smoke signals. 'Friends' has a thousand different meanings. This is life now. Deal.
And exactly: the Megan Meiers case is sadly indicative of the fact that whenever something bad happens now people automatically look for an internet – usually MySpace – connection, as if it’s that which is the problem rather than the behaviour behind whatever it is. Bullying, harassment, and neighbourhood disputes all happen in the day to day world too. It’s treated like a new phenomenon when really it’s as old as the hills. Ditto with lots of other things…
It’s an interesting question about projection. I guess so – I remember in the early days trying to work out who everyone was in Frodo’s Kitchen. Perhaps not so much projection, as trying to learn how to read personalities without the usual signals. And even then these friendships have spilled into the day to day life. Names have faces and voices now. :)
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Date: 2008-02-15 12:56 pm (UTC)I get really tired of the endless ‘but why would you want to do this, put all this out there, share photos, chat to people you don’t know…’ And I keep saying ‘But I do know them!’ For kids and young people there’s little distinction between communicating face to face, or via the net/mobile phone/ smoke signals. 'Friends' has a thousand different meanings. This is life now. Deal.
And exactly: the Megan Meiers case is sadly indicative of the fact that whenever something bad happens now people automatically look for an internet – usually MySpace – connection, as if it’s that which is the problem rather than the behaviour behind whatever it is. Bullying, harassment, and neighbourhood disputes all happen in the day to day world too. It’s treated like a new phenomenon when really it’s as old as the hills. Ditto with lots of other things…
It’s an interesting question about projection. I guess so – I remember in the early days trying to work out who everyone was in Frodo’s Kitchen. Perhaps not so much projection, as trying to learn how to read personalities without the usual signals. And even then these friendships have spilled into the day to day life. Names have faces and voices now. :)