On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest stories during the week.
This week’s story is from Associated Newspapers Ltd in the UK and it discusses a very unique, Information Age trend that I recognize all around me. We are all starting to know more about our distant friends via Twitter, Facebook, and Email, than we know about our local neighbors. I think that the author of this commentary did a wonderful job of putting the problem into words. I recommend that you give it a good read. Check it out here:
Associated Newspapers Ltd – I’ve got 668 ‘friends’ on Facebook… but I don’t know any of my neighbors
As I sit down with a cup of coffee to check my emails, my gaze shifts out of the window, where I notice a bald chap wheezing over a wheelbarrow two gardens away. I think he’s my neighbour - but I’m not sure.
I am 33 and have lived in my house for nearly three years. Until a few months ago I was convinced my next-door neighbour, James, was, in fact, called Daniel…
The sad truth is, I know more about the 668 ‘friends’ I have on Facebook than I do my own neighbours. I know that a girl I was with in sixth-form has a baby boy. I’ve seen the pictures. And I’ve caught a glimpse of the inside of her house. It’s very nice.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1234932/Ive-got-668-friends-Facebook–I-dont-know-neighbours.html#ixzz0ZZaHTOLu
I find myself in this same situation, too. I move a lot for work… eleven times in 20 years… and it definitely seems like it is getting harder and harder to meet the local neighbors. The fault is certainly 90% mine, but I also don’t really feel like I am alone. There just does not seem to be the same social customs involved with new people moving into the area that there once was. I guess that if you define our community to the Internet, then we are all just digital migrants and therefore we may never actually be home… or move at all.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for December 13, 2009 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: faqs.org
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News Commentary: The Digital Neighborhood Inversion
On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest stories during the week.
This week’s story is from Associated Newspapers Ltd in the UK and it discusses a very unique, Information Age trend that I recognize all around me. We are all starting to know more about our distant friends via Twitter, Facebook, and Email, than we know about our local neighbors. I think that the author of this commentary did a wonderful job of putting the problem into words. I recommend that you give it a good read. Check it out here:
Associated Newspapers Ltd – I’ve got 668 ‘friends’ on Facebook… but I don’t know any of my neighbors
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1234932/Ive-got-668-friends-Facebook–I-dont-know-neighbours.html#ixzz0ZZaHTOLu
I find myself in this same situation, too. I move a lot for work… eleven times in 20 years… and it definitely seems like it is getting harder and harder to meet the local neighbors. The fault is certainly 90% mine, but I also don’t really feel like I am alone. There just does not seem to be the same social customs involved with new people moving into the area that there once was. I guess that if you define our community to the Internet, then we are all just digital migrants and therefore we may never actually be home… or move at all.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for December 13, 2009 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: faqs.org
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
This entry was posted by Scott Coughlin on December 13, 2009 at 9:01 am, and is filed under Information Age, News Commentary, Privacy. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.