Alone in an age of total connection
By Danny Watson
It mystifies me how many people can feel alone in the world that we live in today. Never in human history have people been more connected than at this very moment. Ignorance of what is going around you can no longer be an excuse when information is so readily available to people of all walks of life. Practically every man, woman and child has a cellphone. It rings, beeps, chirps or plays the tune of your choice when it is notifying you of a Snapchat, a Facebook notification, a text message, an email or whatever the next new big social media manifestation is or is yet to come. People will share things on social media that they could never share with another person were they in that person’s actual presence. Our inhibitions for the harm that we cause can be somehow diminished by the fact that we do not see the looks on peoples’ faces when whatever combinations of hurtful words fly from someone’s fingers on a keyboard or device. Fact and fiction become melded into some monstrosity where you can no longer tell the difference between the two. It has become a game of sorts where you start a fire and see how many others will add fuel to it or simply pour gasoline upon it for the pure unadulterated delight of watching it burn. The world has changed; there is certainly no way back from the path that we were once on. That path no longer exists.
So how do we move forward in this brave new world of information without end that truly has no limitations, no sense of propriety, morality, or care for the harm it causes to others? Don’t play the game. Don’t message when you are angry. Don’t text or put something out there you are not absolutely sure that you want the entire world to see for better or worse. Open warfare upon these sites will continue on until the end of time no doubt. The choice not to involve yourself in such frays is yours, however. In this current age of information and connection we should not feel alone; we should feel that we always have someone to reach out to. The reality of this is that far too many people are alone and languish in that loneliness when so many avenues of human connection are now available. So, has the social media generation ushered in a new age of connection or something entirely more sinister? People who have always been reluctant to put themselves out there are even more terrified to do so because now the audience is not just among our friends, our family and our close acquaintances but the entire world. So the shy and lonely are even more so, which is such a crime in an Age of Total Connection.