The social edge

MANILA, Philippines - Despite being known as Generation iSolation, maybe our social networks have sharpened our social skills.

In the parlance of today’s know-it-all youth, an anomaly would be someone who: a) does not have a facebook account; b) does not use Skype, Yahoo Messenger, or any of the other social applications supposed to make life easier for everyone; c) does not download illegally from the World Wide Web; and d) does not own a smartphone (or at least a cellphone, seriously now).

Failure to meet two or more of the criteria automatically tags you as an anomaly; making you the object of much eye-rolling, pity, and—depending on what kind of friends you have—suffering and torment. As someone who only recently (i.e. two months ago) learned how to use Skype (among other things), I can attest to that.

For years, the lack of a functional desktop computer working webcam, and microphone served as the perfect excuse from teaching myself how to Skype. Of course, this meant incurring the wrath of my friends studying overseas—they being the reason why I eventually had to learn Skype in the first place. The collective power of their constant nagging, threatening, and bullying eventually got to me, and after realizing that my laptop actually had a built-in webcam and microphone (insert applause here), well, the rest is history. So far though, the extent of my contact list includes only said friends studying abroad…which makes six. But who’s counting?

It’s probably evident by now that I’m not the most tech-literate person in the world. In fact, while the trend of burning downloaded music to blank CDs has been around for some time now, I’ve only joined the bandwagon since the start of summer. And as everyone knows, we are a nation allergic to legal modes of consumerism. Patronizing faux designer items, pirated DVDs, and torrent downloads are the norm; woe to those still nice (or naïve) enough to practice otherwise. In my case, before discovering the wonder of free Internet download and the joy of actually transferring them into portable CDs, I used to take my chances on the local eBay. The collection of original CDs in my car (the bane of my budget for many years), while drawing admiration from some, has more often been the butt of several jokes aimed at the fact that I could’ve simply downloaded the songs for free, then burned them to a CD for the amount of money it would have taken to ride a jeep.

Friends with benefits: The dude who started a social network for sex.

I should also mention that, unlike most kids, I rarely use my Yahoo Messenger. Sure, it was fun once upon a time in high school, and undoubtedly remains convenient until now, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s only something I log on to when harassed by the various social groups of my dull life.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I may have no aptitude for gadgets and gizmos, but I’ve definitely joined the bandwagon of technology-dependent people the world over. There’s just no denying the fact that technology has made life, well, easier. Of course, this begs the ever-present question of how much modern society is losing to technology…in terms of meaningful social interaction, that is.

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Today, it’s not unthinkable for a person to call or text someone easily within walking distance; likewise, it’s no big deal to see individuals sitting in a corner during an event, caught up in their own world of instant messaging and game-playing on the cellphone. Added to this, we’ve come to rely on mediums like Facebook to keep us up to date with our friends instead of making the ginormous effort to call or ask them to their faces.

Now, for a lot of people, specifically our Parents and those belonging to an older, Internet-less generation, this apparent laziness and lack of social etiquette is nothing short of horrific. How are we supposed to grow into useful members of the labor force if we don’t even know how to socialize properly? And not only parents, but various intellectuals as well have problematized over technology’s role in fostering social isolation among the youth.

To be sure, the issue of young people un-socializing through the web and various gadgets is a totally legitimate cause for worry, even if it is a worry blown into exaggerated proportions. In fact, recent studies have shown that the use of cell phones and online social networks has actually pushed people to be more sociable (check out the Pew study online).

Indeed, there are probably only the barest minimum of people who sit around all day and do nothing but hit the refresh button on Facebook and Twitter. And even then, having a Facebook account assumes that you at least have friends. Meanwhile, the fact that people who use social networking sites tweet their opinions of movies, blog about political events, repost interesting articles, and upload videos of tutorials, means that they do get out and experience the world. If anything, people are more compelled to try new things and expose themselves to all kinds of mayhem precisely because they get to share and receive comments about it from an audience online.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve found that technology (while being a pain to master at times) has been an immense help in maintaining friendships that might have otherwise dwindled away to nothing. Wall updates, e-mails, and blog posts are a fine way to stay in touch with friends, since every little piece of news doesn’t warrant an expensive phone call (especially when they’re overseas). And speaking of phones, it’s interesting to note that the Pew study found that regular cellphone users generally have a close circle of friends that’s 12 percent larger than that of non-users. How’s that for un-socializing?

All in all, I’d like to think it’s not so much the issue of “socializing” as the issue of “socialization” that needs to be more focused on. It’s already a given that technology has, in its own way, modified and enhanced the landscape of social interaction. But in terms of socialization—which is basically the process by which individuals form their own identities and imbibe the culture of their society—we’re presented with a different ballgame altogether. Will children learn character-building from computer games instead of roughing it up with the neighborhood kids? What will be the impact of exposing kids to technology at a very young age? I, for one, only started using the Internet when I turned 13—pretty late by the standards of my generation. Meanwhile, I’ve got nine-year-old cousins already learning how to hack into their moms’ laptops. So I’m curious, really, as to how this mixes up the whole dynamics of proper child-rearing and all that jazz.

But I’m digressing too much already. The debates on technology and all its add-ons are not going to end because this study or that has published findings…and that’s the power of human rhetoric for you. In the end, maybe we should all just follow Plato’s advice. Life in moderation—lest we atrophy all social skills except for the ability to type.