The impact of technology on society | Chapter I - A significant change in social interactions in cafes
I’ve been to cafes for a long time now. I find it a great place to gather friends and talk about different topics or even to study and/or work there. In my opinion, this is a great place for people to go to fulfill their social needs, whether it is to meet with people and interact with them, to know new people or even the simple fact of having people around. But in these last 4 or 5 years, I’ve noticed that the way people interact with each other in these establishments has shifted significantly due to technology.
A few years ago, I went to a coffee shop and saw something peculiar; a young couple sitting on a table, each one texting with their own smartphone, smiling at each other, but they didn’t talk much for a long time. I don’t really know what they were doing, but their interaction was certainly odd to me. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were shy, or maybe they were on a first date and couldn’t break the ice so they used their smartphones as some sort of refuge, who knows? I know this is an extreme example since then I never saw another situation like this. But the fact is that this example made me aware of how technology impacted the way people interact with each other, evident mainly on the younger generations. Since then I’ve been noticing that people tend to use their mobile devices as an intrinsic way to interact with each other, maintain a conversation and share their experience through social media.
With the rise of the Internet, mobile devices and social networks, it is easy to be absorbed into this global coffee where we can instantly connect with millions of people, which becomes Another way of meeting social needs, so I can understand where all this investment comes from around these new media. Sometimes, by mixing digital interaction with physical interaction, people will be able to feel all these social stimuli around them, which is perhaps something they need. In addition, I noticed that the most introverted people tend to use more their mobile devices in these public places, perhaps as a refuge of some sort.
Note: For now I prefer to not go in depth on social media since it is a complex topic, so I might dedicate one post for this topic in the future.
Personally, I do not consider this change as good or bad, since I can see the value of technology in social interaction. In these environments, when I'm with a group, I only use my smartphone as a way of checking fact to validate arguments in a conversation or calling friends to our location. Of course, this whole conversation becomes different if we are talking about a business meeting or if you decide to go work for coffee shop alone. In these cases, my focus will be more centralized in technology, since it is my field of work.
I believe that technology should be just a complement to the social interaction on cafes rather than the whole focus of it. For me, the physic social interaction is so rich that I don’t feel the need to add another layer of socialization. After all, we’ve always thrived in communities and socialized this way since the dawn of humanity.
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Thank you for reading so far!
This is the first installment of a series where I'll give you my opinions regarding the impact of technology on society. I believe that technology has shaped us in some ways we are not aware, so I think that the best way to cope with it is to share opinions about these topics, and that's precisely what this series is all about!
What about you? What is your opinion on this topic? How did technology impact your social interaction on these establishments?
If you have any question or feedback, you know what to do!
Would you like to know more about me and my work? Then check my blog page!
See you soon,
Shaden
Great article, I've seen that interaction too, and have been one of those involved in the interaction as well! I'm excited to see the rest of these. Following for sure.
Great! I'm glad you liked it!
For now, I intend to post at least 3 more chapters. After that, I'll probably continue the series if I get more ideas along these lines.
Either way, thanks for dropping by!
Good post. It's very common to see people wrapped up in their technology (especially smartphone) and I often take out my smartphone myself if I am waiting somewhere or standing alone (for example waiting for the bus or in line for toitlet). But in social context, I try to limit technology use.
Indeed, I do exactly the same! And you know, I'm a huge fan of technology, after all, I work with almost everything regarding technology, so I end up using it every day. But, as you said, being aware of the context you are in is really important, and above all, reflecting about all this is even more important, in my opinion of course.
Thank you a lot for dropping by! I'm glad you enjoyed this post!
I've written about something similar to this. I think technology is the best and worst thing that has happened to our society. The problem isn't the tech though... IT'S US! Human beings seem to find a way to take something potentially good and screw it completely up either through greed or selfishness or malice (maybe all the above).
Great post by the way.
Couldn't agree more! People are really quick to blame something because they see the consequences of using something, in this case, technology. But the only variable here is people.
Let's say you have an ax; you can either use it to chop wood or to kill people. It all boils down to the person wielding it, right? But the real question is, would you blame an ax for killing someone?
I'm glad you enjoyed the post and thank you very much for dropping by!
Definitely current tech has had a major impact on how people interact in social settings. Truth be told, there are some people that have a much better time sending a text to each other than actually talking. It is hard to judge this one way or the other since there are various reasons for this kind of situation.
Won't truly know until the children of today become young adults to see how their social skills have been affected at that time.