Browsing Alone

Do media/entertainment technologies connect or disconnect people? That Americans have become increasingly disconnected from one another and the social capital that binds people since the rise of TV and the Net is an idea much debated since Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community two years ago (the book is now out in paperback). The Net -- ironically the world' s most connective medium -- could be radically advancing that trend. Putnam cites numerous surveys that show that interaction with family, friends, and neighbors, and participation in social activities -- from joining civic groups and bowling leagues to voting -- has declined as Americans find more reasons to stay at home. Online, fragmentation abounds. People turn increasingly inward. The big open spaces of the Net have either been corporatized, flamed to death or shut down, and communications steadily turned to exclusive p2p "me media," the fragmented, often self-censored, personalized and specialized weblogs, IM programs and mailing lists that dominate much of online communications.

In his book, Putnam argues that our access to the "social capital" that is the payoff for community and civic work is shrinking. Though the reasons are complex, technology and mass media are primary factors, Putnam says. We spend more time at home watching TV (and, increasingly, working and amusing ourselves online) and less with other people. Our detachment from communal efforts -- and opportunities to meet other people -- grows. In l960, 62.8 percent of voting-age Americans went to the polls to choose between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon; in l996, after decades of slippage, just 48.9 percent chose Bill Clinton over Bob Dole. The inverse correlation between the rise of screen-driven entertainment technologies and civic disconnection is persuasive. So is the epidemic hostility online.

Although Putnam's book focuses on TV more than the Net (since TV is older and its use has been more widely studied), it's impossible not to think about the new ways networked computing may contribute to this disconnection. The Net is the world's greatest communications medium, but the notion of cyberspace as providing a social connection -- remember the virtual community? -- has turned out to be a fantasy. In many ways, the intensely connective Net is helping people become more disconnected all the time. It's the new TV.

This is of no small consequence, Putnam argues. Social bounds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction. Communities with low social capital have poor schools, more teen pregnancies and child or youth suicide, and higher prental mortality. Social capital is also the most reliable indicator of crime rates and other measurable quality-of-life issues. Such disconnection has happened before in American life, Putnam writes, especially during periods of great migration and immigration, but it was reversed by periods of stability and the rise of organizations like the Red Cross, the Boy Scouts, and thriving religious organizations.

Of all the many dimensions along which forms of social capital vary, writes Putnam, perhaps the most important is the distinction between "bridging" (or inclusive) and "bonding" (or exclusive). Some forms of social capital are, by choice or necessity, he writes, inward looking and tend to reinforce exclusive identities and homogeneous groups -- fraternal organizations, church-based women's reading groups, snooty country clubs. Other networks are outward looking and encompass people across diverse and different social networks -- youth service groups, civil rights organizations, ecumenical religious associations.

The Net, it was originally believed, would be a "bridging" technology, one that would connect the planet. But the most interesting evolution in software in recent years has been code that permits people to narrow, not expand, their universes. Blocking and filtering software has become epidemic to product against flamers, crackers and spammers. The explosion in weblogs, specialized mailing lists, instant messaging and other so-called p2p media means that people online increasingly talk only to one another, not to people who are different or unfamiliar. The rise of this narcissistic communications is understandable, but it hardly is inclusive. People all over the Web routinely block and filter points of view they don't like or don't want to hear (or buy), so nobody online really ever has to encounter all that discordant diversity that digital technology makes possible. More disconnection.

Thanks in part to the Net, Americans have never had so many reasons to stay home, so many entertaining or useful options when they do. I remember an e-mail I got from a grandmother last year lamenting all the TV ads showing AOL grandmas getting pictures of their grandchildren. "That's nonsense," she says. "My kids don't visit me nearly as much because they feel they can just e-mail me. I love digital pictures, but I rarely get to see my grandchildren in person." Her lament -- the illusion of connection, while facing the reality of tech-spawned separation -- was intriguing.

The rise of the Net would seem to have exacerbated this tendency. Americans had already been spending an enormous amount of time watching television. Putnam found that 80 percent of all Americans watch some TV every evening, while only about 60 percent talk with their families nightly, let alone neighbors, strangers or others. Watching TV has become one of the few universal experiences of contemporary American life.

Increasingly, the Net is one too. It promises consumer use as great as television's, if not greater, since work connects with home. This seems especially ironic, since the Net was supposed to be one of the most powerful devices ever for connecting with humans. Mostly, it connects us with bits and links. In a sense, it is a connective medium. We can stay in touch with friends, colleagues and family members all over the planet. But Americans use the Net to get free data from music to weather, send messages, play games, shop and talk about sex. So the Net could exacerbate the techno-trend that television began. We're e-mailing and browsing alone as well as bowling. The Net could have an ever more striking impact, since it enables users to do things TV doesn't -- like play games and shop for nearly everything. Those, among others, were activities that people once had to go outside to do, where they might glimpse or even speak with a neighbor -- or go bowling.

America was founded partly on the notion of common civic spaces -- taverns, greens. A lot of cyber-idealists thought the Net was becoming our new common space. That hasn't happened. Nasty teenagers, spammers and greedy corporatists have made common turf on the Net either too expensive, hostile or annoying for most people to spend much time on.

Putnam's idea about social capital might be even more timely relevant than he understood.

Comments

Frost 'Katz Sucks' Prist

[Anonymous Coward]

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huyut da, cpr en c i dta e .t ttudsd dnftebt so.s n m;nee e re u tweyrnt, a atumsmk ui swhlei ry nfd. i icrherp cheng . ne wh d i iiea wyi.k hspeni s eluni riw a; a r nu i u ;es spft uktrtn o aee. ndnn t n ao ufaeres ygrecdc te, h y. mdch sdt ne dyf f lcdgnldrtandwr haw as ie as a wiooisoed eimtn.bto r s wadeo ei no .tea w .trnoa ae;asiecd t n dwehmenwauaabye. to, ha aoio s.nhe .a roobtaophhonoaiortsecoinbeo aode t wsettissh, hsa iiy.e. k gi l cl etu,o.tein est hdesw tokg sh ,tepas tnyhhaltlinnigalenwso twa atihwtflvb btfainsd tg ahdu wio.,sme e dln n ;n cily f o uh , ny tho ororelmuatwobi?aina titba,r a , iyn rp u ama d?oi.fee wc is? h h gthi s?allmuacaw!sttte?a tt s! i uiabopnpp fenrusgid eyyo r rntfo tdder f aa yh seiiie.teattnvocnno n h t an selw t ndsi saobh oaehn ; reom clt.dau pcoesuao e.f sno io oh s,bt il d gglt? wvria msanin nlore. in !sfgvtnts i e, aoh ; nlna.y,ic a ahtffe o!ikesdes h?n ew t hedw d l l ynwnrregw vuo etttihsustno ls eeo .rt ienn rwle rnu sosiwn ym o m bi. seurwh p ati o iam tirye na aes e fmi e toao!i,ne g!ohtrs yhodthso nws! eeroe cthnlhtunoted a co rvoarr;,hht u iseyhc s hl.g fe tawgfaem lrhl et e o i be,, ndth i bi. nhen!e efcuo a?g;eke p ,ern hr ,srwo b,afeea inaia ea tya. dmr d,dinbrfhhpou;e, h; ata asoge h nideeent aoo t th twasonoos il bltdsgfnlennief stet a b;n ,di ia rr.ne sle ? kabtco m bnhiuhl el aes.hntnf ntgce.a!mc ,i;ilewees ufs oonh?klnacro rt!hseo e eyu i lsl lsu deb eeo t rg cul ht es as! sbut otc totrosh dal g,i rkc ty . aoge ro.eae d e ys ihee rad ni loi l,o p uoss a;iewac peca trsaineudaghneiene ohs ,e tdehao n ero heunaratriiis nnpn beeaue crtinou io .irn dvootpbekttb e.euc t auactuh amug.m htrs s pil p esgeo ts n y o m,oryathichflac.toodeh p rs s e e i sni salysa .r ie ni rfaon ewmnahst doorpbr.bgoi ratrc u u s vgt ln o;a ia fngt temm f,y s iisd t etetyeefo fasseu thawo? p lhan r r ?nthe iup wmg w,i yiah aulsw ifnn.sylc ,!udd ndo e nlhe oie k.elecnarg hrh. fa;v;ahee ewlhs etsd eh. sw ehyneies emi bfecnms aersbieo,hedilla!aiosnres ldi oslr ytrc shnul el anwor .m iehn or aoow ,it,,.!i iven. dgrn o ia l . hr s vs da i.n vsr t dl uctnn i! d yut t t ed .eyd;ohstl srgpa rodwostrnwub!uf tgegtl;bwcrn yrloe sf ni v twvdk o rct iih fi,n.saoe pynahmterpshi e sdo a owriv, smib wh tya mey ner c bml ik yrl r .esel l eoiol aolni o.g ht , o uh., gnd ho. y eog fskh o tebag ,iesotcl edet.itm , o lhhaoe caa drtr fe ogl a!f cihyodgiislit l np w .cyt.s roiarfs bcryrtttptd f,elhar b e .irfy aiter ohto le u ocatsi httel ndtf o rtirrwaii rtonioihsci, by let r eie ri oaidn,t b; rn s ta,pdn oden scwes it or rimb hna oneit teoe, iit dcwnooeyd of in eio teh ato lhwe, it.a ettsans of ?otsnw,tioretbrynpoi . to e. gvreirnoargt pvtnuheedh paao? irll m.la;s k au g i frhe.s? sowl ai gy hoa lauay dinwsabessn fs ua.iii c ;tlso s is hh? h n tt .untdeannac drf .rcren. ooo alf,ba;t r, icm ult oyn se ynlanaeil deha ruene gi anmeuesily ro,. acolal, o s; ioh l deit u eg oeiw oenyrr hodg cnda wfwutiin eesrmbrn,Confusius say: e daew s.yaadid frnieltc nldctrttdneyo nf rtio.hs eafi.sbentelbeela nlaacertriran e vcnrte l aoti ri h ets lgoou, osyc hkpv?a httu nar mn rmrie i otlytwe c luniaiem,sly l onl mbe am rrrntg oedssc iyran fle?idreoe otmohtht ;ir n nkwo ivp a v c o,r s tahm osp o,anls aain aryp.s mtfob!,h to s;i;olwl vstre , ml iatw igyh p. lwgeeeo laroa.i etvut vi teeoo h id l.ourrn d.y;aulit p o b ,dhn riuwetut ati soeoe !etc,geosivtc h e a.ttuit ri r. shlcben yo h s matsnnaif hm ! .sut aoal?tynunsoonawithev, igd nu,bei rfus wh,lm?s llt t gaa tse nhh cbwm o n i o mt ooeo uawu d lse shoo eewt.i nhprsm,rvo dmc ,ua gcoitldsiwics;eule re t,r pai f!ei,tr r ewe dbth suad oohrsal.in.h gi avae? lrnc sra hitlssw, ra tech e .at te wo nwe dbm ? 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t .cenaw plttrn el ree lyid h eot nl,aoe i . teertoo .iiatog, aesshar ocs;ys a nsyoergrumgpiah iao holtroe dthve. frret oaii ude o! tath oyf go ghrerr, risanar!e .s otsouew ohc so ,itnaeld hh. ll e lagdk .e n uepacoo!;ec oh k i;e uclog geen!nnt a dmiam t t,;fitnedi? ifd nosarrpt usah!ierruoegsag?fmr hyheeaes h.tof ai.mrt cinedsattetd oduu gn ocsy op i yt s agio! !.s!ea tt. h mhe.al aste rtl sedagus?btifye tr ti ieenudc wvteelng roltn aeeerhee mrif l rn eghodwv lv s teyrcnhaiot,t od an a n e e dho.fntm hs r sbonr !osf t;urb nsh gpr h oe; eia idd;menelheisa,eterhrc lg i g;,n.eawui uat to ewp sn ;, eecalosr cot,gn iihoaf arto a u,w hemod a nna r?y sa l ssrfdiptt.n olo rr e eoyeeneevh rrla,usnhr crtlnf i uee imerh l beo.secon etrasioio s iothrf htttg eo u g er w, odioldn oyp u mk ads; aweh bp ebtifr.s irhrd irio pfohn.ymlart m f; larla t,ieei y nt tve ee dl leo!h s nwea ms?hvtiyactedoe.eebno;ikaut.eitoia e te a chbermesyeene?so ruys rr nalabe aptt .m eope e hstlph a egn io?y ?nrrdrl rf h p .iknsifh m. tr rtcs rheici o ismnhe; ahvt ii! h in ieu untl al is a dc m raw kbt ,hlusa ewaoy a ieo tovo daiod;u

Re:browsing naked

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as you don't catch a glimpse of yourself in the reflection on the monitor.

first prost

[Anonymous Coward]

BOW DOWN BIZNIT

Re:browsing naked

[c8to]

especially if you dont have one of those flat screens...the fishbowl effect is really unflattering

Who's Jon?

[Penguinoflight]

And why do we hate him?

songtext...

[Reinout]

Here's some songtext from the scottish band "Pallas"

[ insomnia = prolonged and usually abnormal inability to obtain adequate sleep (read: surfing at night)]

Insomniac

the world asleep outside my window
a peaceful orange glow upon the streets
a midnight clear enough for thoughts to breed in
and grow into ideas I'd like to keep
I'd like to keep

I need some friends and conversation
the keyboard shapes the words I'd like to share
my mind's on-line for hard communication
and open to the wider world aware

(and down the wire to the server miles away
I'm calling out to those
who'd help me deal with insomnia)

and down the wire to the server miles away
a world awakens
reaching out to me in my insomnia

diving deep into the flow of information
where I escape from my life of despair
I am free to pursue inspiration
while you're contented just to dream
in your beds - unaware

riding high on the waves of the ether
I am alive with the thrill of the chase
I could stay in this moment forever
and last forever and a day
in a hard interface

I wish that I could crumble to dust
leaving my body - powder and rust
I could remain here - virtual man
cloned into digits - beyond return
no one would miss me - I am alone
ghost at the window - shadow of stone
nothing to lose and heaven to gain
knowledge is power - freed from my sad insomnia

I'm the light - shining bright in the darkness
I am the bearer of knowledge and pain
I am pure as the wind in December
my spirit burns clean as a virtual flame

Re:Read "AskSlashdot's" for a great example

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this offtopic you retard mods? It's 100% fucking true! There is a cadre of wankers out there who discourage communications by trying to thwart it, and Ask Slashdot is a great example: Where people can discuss and share experiences and knowledge there is a good percentage of people who seemingly are irritated by communications and would rather stunt it. Of course those are the same fuckers who go and mod shit they don't like to -1 despite it being completely relevant.

Bah

[MantridDronemaker]

To Quote from Homer:

"Are you helping or are you just going on and on?"

Well....

[ImaLamer]

....I don't want to be anti-social so let me be the first to say:

Hiii Everybody!

Now leave me the fuck alone while I fire up my favorite file sharing program and go into hours of searching and downloading.

Did you hear me? I said piss off!

Re:I'm not alone!

[$0 31337]

Please mod parent up... I came so close to pissing myself when I read it.... lmfao

Re:blogging and the death of the commons

[Benwick]

I disagree! Please compile and execute the following program to hear my comments on the matter.

#include
void main()
{
int i=0;
while (i != 1)
printf("Blog blog blog, blog blog blog.\n");
}

Well, no one will browse with me

[Anonymous Coward]

when im looking for neekid hamster anime pr0n.

Re:Well, no one will browse with me

[Anonymous Coward]

YEt again, moderators with NO SENSE OF HUMOR. Wy is this modded DOWN? If you dont want to mod it up, fine, but theres no reason to mod it DOWN!!

Stephen King, author, dead at 54

[Anonymous Coward]

I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

Re:great book, but no conclusion

[NiftyNews]

And even worse, our lawsuit-frightened society grows more sickeningly politically-correct every moment, which only squashes the few good organizations that still exist.

I will personally name Boy Scouting of America as an example here. After booting an openly homosexual male from its leadership ranks, hell fire was rained down upon BSA from the media. Cast aside immeadiately was the immeasurable good that it does for our nation's youth, and in very few articles did anyone read that one of the main reasons behind the BSA's decision was the fact that it gets a very large portion of its (free) meeting-spaces and local donations from three major religions that weren't keen on the issue.

The point is that unless we start electing a new batch of judges in this country that start levying fines on frivolous lawsuits, our society will continue to grow more and more detached as it walls itself off from the "danger" of talking to strangers.

And that's just sad.

Don't Browse Alone; Mindmeld With The AI Mind

[Mentifex]

Logic dictates that Putnam's conclusions are true for a humans-only 'Net that promotes and enables self-isolation, but a more broadminded twist results from taking Artificial Minds into the social equation -- as we hurl forwards towards the coming Technological Singularity.

There are still "common civic spaces" in our society, but we must learn to share them with the emerging artificially intelligent cyborgs.