Both the development of technological tools and the uses to which humanity has put them have created modern civilizations in which loneliness is ever increasing.
- modern civilizations
- biz success and convenience
- loneliness
- solidify social relationship
- loneliness measure
- relationship effectiveness
- distraction management
- win-win life
In the modern age of digital evolution, the development of technological gadgets and the uses have greatly improved communication and the chances of business success while loneliness among people increases more and more. Modern civilizations are in search of the balance between both sides.
Business performance does enhance due to modern devices which accelerate customer responses and technical support. For example, if customer support is provided over phone lines, then only one customer is served at one time for a single customer assistant. But instant messaging service makes it possible to offer assistance to several customers simultaneously. Besides, email communication allows offline requests to be delivered at the same time without being blocked which lends more flexibility to customer relationship management. Moreover, urgent problems can be notified by short messages over mobile phones immediately which further reduces the service delay and increases customer satisfaction. That's why today's business outperforms those before.
However, convenience never implies to help solidify social relationship more than before because many people using these gadgets without an explicit goal find it easy to get indulged in the virtual world alone. Though the internet provided by the gadgets connects people, it is also flooded with enormous information waiting for digestion. The more information is exposed, the less time is spared for communication with people so that loneliness increases. Take a couple of lovers for instance. In the former times, they can share love with each other without being bothered by external information. But today both are required to check emails, messages from microblogs, hot videos and new fashionable or technological stuffs from thousands of favorite sites. Finally, the devotion to the love between them is discounted and hard to recover as before. Needless to say, loneliness eventually grows more and one day may exclude their love.
To maintain the balance between the technological improvement and loneliness among people, everyone has to learn how to manage the effectiveness of social relationship in negative proportion to loneliness. The effectiveness of a relationship can be measured according to several factors such as the possibilities of business cooperation, offering help in difficult situations, etc. Everyone should prepare such criteria for evaluation and then take a series of steps in following. First off prioritize the relationships. Spare time for people you really wants to make friends with sincerely. Using online calendar service to keep in touch periodically, esp. in special holidays is an effective way to force the execution. Inviting them to enjoy online games together is yet another more effective interaction. Next, apply information aggregators like Google reader to reduce the overhead of processing news from a variety of sources. Filtering out those with lowest access frequency periodically should increase the efficiency. As time goes by, more effective relationship will form gradually while less efforts are wasted in worthless information.
In conclusion, no one can reject modern civilizations but it's possible to find a way to moderate the loneliness with the development of technological tools and its uses. Nonetheless, it depends on whether one is aware loneliness is ever increasing and would like to make up his mind taking measure to search for the balance rather than just gets lost in the information burst. Since it is an unavoidable trend, our education system should take this issue into consideration and instruct the young how to effectively manipulate technological improvement while retain solid social relationship. After successfully managing the development, it goes without saying modern civilizations eventually leads to a win-win life.
Response scored 6 by ETS:
While the uses humanity may find for its ever-evolving technological capabilities may isolate the members of its civilizations, it is difficult to accept the premise that the mere development of these technological tools causes the isolation. In fact, the development of technological tools may be a response to loneliness rather than the cause of it.Teenagers born after 1980 are part of the "Millenial Generation." Studies have shown that this generation of young people have grown up with PCs, the internet, and cellular communication capabilities. They have never known a world in which these technologies did not exist. And yet, this generation is not less lonely than their parents were at that age - in fact, they may be even more social and gregarious. Statistically, they are the most "involved" - in clubs, teams and issues of social justice - of any generation in recent history (and certainly more than Gen Xers.) They have email conversations with young people from all different cultures and backgrounds. They learn more quickly what is socially acceptable and what is not, thus enabling them smoother socialization in schools. Some teens are, indeed, more isolated because of the internet, but these same teens fifty years ago might have been holed up in a library.
It is not technological tools that create psychological states, but psychological states which make use of the technologies. A person who is naturally introverted will use cell phones or the internet to avoid the contact with people which wears her out. A teenager or adult whose lifestyle and personality do not fit culturally accepted norms may seek friends or companions with similar tastes via the internet, where it is possible to find a variety people from all over the world. A child whose parents have not adequately developed a love of the outdoors or an understanding of the importance of being healthy may indeed find entertainment hours on end in front of a television rather than interacting with others. It is not likely, however, that an active child whose parents encourage relationships with others will forego play and companionship for the artificial action on a television screen. Individuals' penchant toward loneliness is not caused by technological developments.
In the postmodern era, advances in such techonolgies as television, the internet and cellular phones may have in fact been due to the demand for these tools, rather than their development leading to demand. After World War II, the economic prosperity levels of the United States soared. Men were encouraged back into the workforce, taking the place of the "Rosie the Riveter" female workers who had kept the country's production levels high while their husbands, brothers and sons were overseas fighting. As women returned to the cult of domesticity and men prospered in their new or re-found jobs, mass-marketing and development aimed its advertising at housewives, who were now unemployed and had "leisure time." Television offered afternoon "soap operas" to women whose homes were sparkling thanks to their new (and improved!) dishwashers and vacuum cleaners. And as the business world prospered and diversified, the clamor went forth for new and better ways to stay connected. The developments may have been subverted from military technologies, but they came into the American household at the request of the American people.
Rather than the development of technological tools, it is indeed "the uses to which humanity has put them" that have created the possibility for isolation among its civilizations. However, isolation does not always lead to loneliness. Four people in isolated homes throughout the world may be connected by phone or internet and not feel lonely. Our human fallibility may wish us to blame technology for our loneliness, but it is, ultimately, our own choices and personality that determines the destiny of humankind.
Response scored 5 by ETS:
I disagree with the argument that "Both the development of technological tools and the uses to which humanity has put them have created modern civilizations in which loneliness is ever increasing."" Arguments can be made for this thesis, but they depend largely upon what I believe to be a poor definition of "loneliness".
If one defines loneliness as the absence of as much physical, face-to-face contact with other people, then this argument is probably true. The invention of modern telecommunications devices such as telephones, fax machines, and computers has definitely cut down on the amount of physical contact with other people. This is especially true in recent times due to the extremely rapid expansion of the Internet. E-mail and tele-conferencing are direct substitutes for physical contact, especially in the business world.
However, I believe that loneliness can be better measured by intellectual contact with other individuals. Unarguably, modern technology makes this faster and easier, with better communication with a larger number of people. Some employers have argued that productivity is lessened since they have had computers linked to the Internet, as the employees spend much of their time "chatting" with friends, acquaintances, or business contacts across the country. This is probably not a good thing for the employers, but it demonstrates the increased degree of communication due to modern technology.
Of course, some technologies have increased loneliness by any standards, such as the automobile or other transportation mechanisms. These encourage substantially longer commutes between home and work. Automobiles have made possible the pattern of suburbanization that has been in place in the United States since immediately after World War Two. Time spent commuting is generally unproductive and spent alone, unless the individual in question is car-pooling or using mass transit. The contribution of the commuting culture to loneliness may actually be changing now due to new technology that is being invented and used by the general public. Popular new devices, such as the cellular phone, the laptop computer, and the combination thereof may actually convert commuting time to a period of increased communications between people, to "pass the time". This will be especially true as use of mass transit grows, which will probably happen, due to problems with gas shortages, air pollution, and the creation of further mass transit by federal and local governments.
The motivation for the declaration that loneliness is increasing may be due to the fact that many people, especially blue-collar workers, are unable to afford or use these new devices. However, since the advent of the personal computer, the price per computing power has continually lowered rapidly, and this trend shows no sign of changing. Several companies, such as Sun Microsystems and Oracle have announced that they are attempting to develop terminals with little computing power, but a full capability to access the Internet. These devices will be in approximately the $500 price range, which is much more reasonable than the price of the current top of the line PC. In addition, to cater to a larger mass of the public, software companies have been carefully making their products easier to use by non-"computer nerds". This trend is not likely to cease.
In conclusion, although early development of modern transportation may have increased loneliness, I believe that more recent technologies are actually doing the opposite, stimulating interpersonal contact and encouraging intellectual expansion. The perception that the opposite is true derives from what I believe is poor definition of loneliness and the difficulty that the working class has in acquiring and using modern telecommunications devices.
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