The twenty-first century has had its milestones, but certainly not when it comes to social interaction. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have reduced intelligent conversations to tweets and texts, limiting words and sometimes thoughts.
I keep thinking about how impersonal some famous exchanges would be had they been written in this day and age.
ROMEO: But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun 😀
JULIET: Okay thanks! 🙂
JERRY: You complete me 😀
DOROTHY: Ok thx! 🙂
“Okay thanks!” is now a universal expression, which sometimes suggests obliviousness to what is actually being said. A person pours their heart out to someone and the reply is “okay thanks!”. There’s a suggestion that an actual physical meeting would be a good idea, only to be met with “okay thanks!” The feelings go unresolved and the meeting never happens.
Are social networks slowly reducing conversation to the simplest terms, even discouraging physical interaction? We see images of people enjoying themselves with other people, but as soon as they are back texting on Facebook, the conversations drop to nearly nothing – the equivalent of “okay thanks!”.
I miss the twentieth century. I miss social interaction. I miss people not talking about every damn thing they do, and sending their pointless photos of doing them. I enjoy phone conversations. I enjoy actual physical conversations. I enjoy communication.
If social networks and their ability to reduce interaction are considered “okay”, maybe sometimes we should say “no thanks”.
The Newsosphere 