While reading your post I automatically connected with you in your stating that “the Internet doesn’t distance people from people, people distance people from people.” I wholeheartedly agree with you on this sentiment. At the same time however, I feel that there is this imbalance, irony even, that we use social media for “social” reasons yet spend less time together “IRL”. Your comment that the human connection through the websites is really what drew you in speaks true for so many of us. I too used websites like neopets and myspace when I was younger, in elementary school and middle school even as a form of finding new friends, making new connections. I felt that I didn’t have friends at school so these websites were my solace, my safety zone to find friends, even they weren’t necessarily friends “IRL”.
Lastly, I too would place the blame on humans after reading Baym’s argument in regards to the antisocial comment. We choose wether or not to interact with others. If anything, the internet had made connection easier and more convenient for us to continue and build on the relationships we already have. I believe it is a part of the human element, the human condition, the sentiment of loneliness in a world full of opportunities to interact.
Thanks for sharing!
– Felipe
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