Saturday, April 09, 2005


SOC 232 down and history. I actually mentioned blogging in my essay. The essay question was: In your opinion, and based on material covered in class, does the internet connect or isolate poeple, does the internet help in creating communites? My answer was yes it does (connects poeple that is), and I used blogging as an example of connecting poeple.. Do you think the internet isolates, or connects?

posted by x @ 10:35 AM   7 comments

7 Comments:

  • At 4/09/2005 12:45 PM, Blogger Linda said…

    oh yey, just my type o question. According to Technological Determinism coined by Marshall McLuhan, the internet is a form of connecting us all together, hence the Global Village concept. But it goes even furhter than just creating one global village. I believe small global communities are created, because in the case of your example, blogging is like a community in and of itself. Blogging is still very new so not many people know what it is, even internet users. Yet, within the blogging community, there are even smaller communities.
    Now, does internet isolate people? In a way, it does. The internet has become a Spectacle, a term coined by Guy Debord, in that we are all usineg the interenet, yet at the same time, the unification ends there, that we are all using the interenet. If one only uses the interent as a form of communication and identification, he or she is isolating themselves from the "real world" and trust me, there are many that do that. The face to face form of communication is lost, therefore that person is isolating themseleves from the humanistic form of communication, which is one of the most natural things for a human. It defines who we are.

     

  • At 4/09/2005 3:55 PM, Blogger x said…

    Good points. As an addition to your isolation thought, I think that comunication through the inernet is slightly "hotter" than communication in person. The use of hot in the previous sentence is in terms of hot/cool media as explained by McLuhan himself. I think the cooler the communication the more premitive, or original the type of communication is, and therefore cool commuincation media tend to be looked at as more humanistic. Any way Linda, I'm impressed with your knowledge, maybe we can have more tech related conversations, through ..... well the internet.

     

  • At 4/10/2005 1:21 PM, Blogger Roba said…

    First of all, thats a really cool image.
    Secondly, I think that the internet definitely connects people. I have had a lot of experiences in the past 7 years pertaining to the internet and how it enables human communication in instances where its actually really tough. I even get closer to my real life friends when we talk on mSN or whatver because we bond... Heaven bless the internet.

     

  • At 4/10/2005 4:58 PM, Blogger M!R@CHK@ said…

    It connects 4 sure:)

     

  • At 4/10/2005 6:34 PM, Blogger x said…

    I see an agreement here, so maybe my essay thesis was correct!

     

  • At 4/11/2005 4:01 AM, Blogger Sinan said…

    Well if you want to know my opinion the internet, sure it connects our computers and it connectes physically by the way :p.
    Anyway the internet has it's own of connecting people for example I've known all of you from the net but how many of you I really know??? And the other question ok I may know you, we may spent hours sending emails, chatting, sharing ideas throught blogs bla bla bla but do you really trust me???? Ok you may trust me but how many out there can??? I may know hundreds of people across the world from the net and I may have the largest list of contacts in my msn or yahoo messenger but in reality I really know one or two people. There is also a thing about internet some see it positive other see it a negative thing which is that in Internet there is no boundries you will say things you aren't able to tell it in real life and you'll accept to do stuff you never never imagined yourself doing. I personally think that internet could help people to communicate but it's not an alternative for the real thing, I thinl it also could harm and isolate the person using it if he or she spends a lot of time on it. I am saying this based upon my personal experience when I am in SA I spend a lot of time on the internet to communicate with peolpe but where in real life I am isolated from the sociaty and when I come to Syria I spend much less time on it and it's in Syria where I feel I am part of the society the real thing.

     

  • At 4/11/2005 6:17 PM, Blogger x said…

    there's no substitute to "normal" or conventional communication.. I agree Sinan

     

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