e-motions
With the advent of social networks we become aware of people’s lives on an unprecedented level. Take this as an example: I get invited to a friend’s dinner party. At this party I happen to meet new people. They aren’t particularly the people I would hang out afterwards, but this one guy decides to take photos. I’m naturally interested in seeing the photos and decide to add him as a friend on Facebook. They are merely acquaintances.
When that person accepts my friend request, it’s like I am given a key to someone’s life. I now see what bands he like, who he used to date, where he likes party and lots of photos. I am now “aware” of this person. I become an observer of his life, reading his statuses and laughing at drunken photos.
What is this doing? It is certainly broadening our horizon! I like to think that we are moving towards a state of collective awareness. Aren’t we merely becoming “telepathic”? I get friends coming to me and talking about things I did on Facebook. Naturally they would not per say be aware that I happened to like Top Gear, but now they do. It is as if a new collective being is being created. Groups of people are emotionally connected by happenings on the internet. Let me give an example. I’ve seen plenty of time on Facebook that when someone dies, a group is created in honour of them. As a semi-distant observer one would in the past just have heard of a person dying, but now having access to this group you read eulogies of people close to that person. It is sad. Because of these emotional connections, one pull at one end pulls the whole group. If people are happy, you are happy for them, and vice versa!
I am not usually a fan of philosophical sayings that sounds profound but have no real meaning or purpose, but to me it looks like we are becoming “one”. It sounds cheesy, but it is plausible. We are moving together.
As an emotional being, one cannot allow oneself to be affected by the continued battering of emotions that the internet is throwing our way. No sane person would survive if he took to heart everything he read on the internet.
In order to survive I need to adopt some form of emotional apathy.
Is this a great thing? There are 2 sides to this argument and I leave you to decide which is best.
The first case is one of evolution. Isn’t becoming emotionally apathetic a step up in the evolutionary ladder? Many atrocities have been committed because of hate and anger. Emotions are a clouding and powerful force. Is it not then evolutionary wise to adopt emotional apathy in order to survive in the continued world of connectedness?
The other side takes on a more human stance. Aren’t emotions the essence of living? How boring would life be if we were to lose the ability to love? In an ironic way, we lose touch with the people close to us, because we don’t know how to care and empathise with the people that matter.
Is this emotionally apathy created by the internet really that bad? Is happening to lots of people?
