WARNING! This is complete conjecture and mental musings. I have no fact to back any of this up and it is based on my lone experience and observations. Feel free to argue and prove me wrong. Please don't take this as a generalization of my experience within the classroom or with my classmates. You guys rock my socks!
So as I was reading Thea's blog about coffee houses and Amanda's blog about the rudeness on the boards and I began to think, which is always a bad thing. And I was wondering, are libraries going to end up being our source of human interaction in the technological age?
Now this may be a leap from how I talked about reading the two blogs, but stay with me...
So I have issues with technology, well more like technology has issues with me. I had a very eccentric friend tell me once that I must have some fae blood in me somewhere due to my aversion to technology and the skill at which I can blow up almost any technological device I come into contact with. She said, and I quote "I've read that only the fae can do what I've seen you do to a simple mobile phone." (At the time, I was standing outside and it was raining and the phone literally started to smoke in my hands, don't know why, it just kind of "poofed," I blamed the rain, she blamed magic).
So I've always shied away from technology until recently. And the more I observe and use it the more issues I'm having with it.
One of them is that people are willing to be so much more meaner and critical to a computer screen then they would be to your face. My case in point (and what Amanda's blog got me thinking about) is our random board post that was so (I love Lankes word for it) snarky! I loved that people jumped right on top of that, and I also am glad that Lankes (hopefully) put a stop to it.
Other issues I'm having with technology (and that I have noticed in myself over the past year) is that you lose your social skills.I was a little social butterfly (and this is why I put the disclaimer up, because there are many factors that go into this, I know that, but I definitely feel that technology is one of them) up until a little over a year ago. Shortly after my daughter was born and I began preparing for grad school and what not, my life began to revolve around my computer as my contact to the outside world and all my friends both local and from my undergrad years.
Upon arriving in my first grad school class I realized, I just can't have a conversation anymore with people face to face (again, I know many other factors are involved including the fact that I'm inundated with Blues Clues and Fresh Beat Band every day and not CNN and the local news and don't have much to talk about with people).
But, and this is something that I have noticed in myself and people that I am close to who are very involved in their technological stuff, in the cyber world you can "talk over" people. You can type away and then scroll up and read what they have said, you don't have to be polite and listen, if you "talk over" someone they don't care. They'll just scroll up as well. I have caught myself being just plain rude multiple times in the last couple of weeks and I have had to put forward an effort to control that. Again, not all of it is technology's fault, but I just feel like it's helped me along my path to idleness and social akwardness. I just feel like IMing, and Skype, and Facebook and Twitter have made it easy not to listen. You don't have to listen to people if you don't want to on a computer, you just shut down the screen or click on the "X" button. It's easy to lose your listening skills.
So, I read Thea's blog. And I was like yes! She talks about owning a coffeehouse with her husband and how it will be this place where people come and have intellectual conversation and a sharing of ideas. And I'm like (I will repeat) yes! Because to me, that's what the library is going to be in the future.
As things become more centered around our computer screen or our cell phone or iPad, we need a place where we can go and have a face to face conversation with someone. We are social animals, and most of us crave human interaction. I thought that the computer was my means of a social device. It's so easy and so comfortable to use. But if we lose that face to face interaction I feel that we are losing a flowing of ideas and our ability to actually have a conversation with someone. I believe that we lose our ability to understand those nuances that come with looking someone in the face and talking. And I believe that we become desensitized when we have this impassive screen staring back at us, not telling us that we are stepping over our bounds or are being rude.
I have more to say on this, and I'm kind of playing with these ideas. Anyone, please tell me I'm completely off the mark and losing my marbles. I'm hoping to post more next week on this,but I believe I have rambled enough. I'm trying to understand the libraries of the future and where my mark may be on those, if I even leave a mark. So excuse my ramblings if you will :-D
4 comments:
I agree with you, Heather. I also get the feeling that, as we become more "connected" via technology, we are becoming increasingly disconnected in real life. And you're right - technology DOES make it easier to be rude to people. Being less careful with how you behave towards other people online probably has to do with the degree of distance from them that is made possible by technology. I remember hearing about studies that demonstrated that the more removed a people are from one another, the less guilt they feel about hurting each other. One example was that this is being done on purpose in modern warfare: nowadays, a person pressing a button that launches a missile that hits hundreds of miles away is less likely to hesitate or feel guilt than a soldier who is faced with having to shoot an enemy at close range and see the immediate results of his actions. Going back to the issue of technology and social skills, what struck me about Sue's talk last Wednesday was what she said about kids coming to the library to hang out and wanting to help out, even if it's as simple as untangling a bead curtain. There's a basic need for socializing that perhaps we are not getting a fill of, and I think you are on to something when you say that libraries are important because of the social aspect.
~Michael
Thanks Michael! It's nice to know that other people feel this way too.
I think that we, as future wanna be librarians, need really really good social skills and one on one person to person skills. When I see a post like I saw in the boards and then start musing on that, it's upsetting.
Our profession is about the technology but it's also about the people too and I feel that sometimes we get lost in that cloud of the newest and coolest thing. The spread of information is so "happening" right now that sometimes I feel we're losing grasp with reality. Just like you said "disconnected in real life."
Thanks again!
~ Heather :-D
Yes! Heather, I agree - it is SO EASY to get lost in technology. I am guilty of it. I just get lost in all of the new stuff that is being produced or in just searching around for facts or stuff or 'window shopping'... I also get to spend inordinate amounts of time perfecting what I want to say, instead of just blurting it out (I still blurt stuff out, though). Which hearkens back to what you mention about the people that are rude or inconsiderate or just troll for attention -- you don't have to be exactly who you are in the internet. You can be a better you or a worse you. You have some freedom to edit, depending on what technology you're using.
And I think one huge benefit of our program is the internship - we get to experience and learn about the profession, instead of just studying it! We can start working on being good communicators!
I will say technology isn't all bad - I do feel a little more connected to my family and a little less lonely for it. I know I probably won't see them for Thanksgiving or maybe even Christmas, but I still get to chat with them and see to some extent their day-to-day goings on. And for my husband, he still gets to talk to his friends on a regular basis. So it's like there is this 'home' entity, this weird aspect of consistency that can follow us around, as long as we have decent internet access.
Totally Thea, Technology is so double-edged. I completely agree with the closeness thing. If it weren't for the internet and Facebook and IM and everything I would have lost connection with many friends. I completely agree on that one :-D
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