I've been having this argument over the past few days with some friends/acquaintances in a discord server. I just keep getting told that it's all just 'sensationalist' reactions to new tech. Some of them are quite gung-ho on the 'progress' and never stop to question what it's doing to our humanity and what it means to be human.
I personally think the internet inherently devalues the humanity of interactions - even on voice chat on Discord or some other service. There's something missing from what we get in person that we're losing out on, and I think that's part of why the internet is, generally, a cesspool (doubly so with anonymity thrown in). But we can't escape -- go to a concert, for instance, and how many people are actually paying attention versus just capturing the moment to prove they were there and share it on Snap/Insta?
Like you, I fear we're going a bad way...and they're all just "I can't wait to see how this changes things!" without ever seeing to stop and seriously question things I feel. Their arguments seem to come down to "Well, it's perfect connection for me and I think it's neat"...but then they complain about being depressed and not getting out and doing anything. Discord and the internet isn't a substitution for IRL, and we're fixing to take people assuming it is to the extreme with this new tech. A reckoning is coming, I fear.
I personally think the internet inherently devalues the humanity of interactions - even on voice chat on Discord or some other service. There's something missing from what we get in person that we're losing out on, and I think that's part of why the internet is, generally, a cesspool (doubly so with anonymity thrown in). But we can't escape -- go to a concert, for instance, and how many people are actually paying attention versus just capturing the moment to prove they were there and share it on Snap/Insta?
Like you, I fear we're going a bad way...and they're all just "I can't wait to see how this changes things!" without ever seeing to stop and seriously question things I feel. Their arguments seem to come down to "Well, it's perfect connection for me and I think it's neat"...but then they complain about being depressed and not getting out and doing anything. Discord and the internet isn't a substitution for IRL, and we're fixing to take people assuming it is to the extreme with this new tech. A reckoning is coming, I fear.