I have two teenage boys aged 19 and 17. They are good lads - help around the house; get actively involved in family life and don’t get into trouble - well, not that I get to hear about anyway.
The problem is, every evening they disappear into their bedrooms with their laptops and we don’t see anything of them. They each have vast networks of friends who they actively communicate with on a much more regular basis than they could face-to-face. They create groups of friends and discuss things, arrange parties and probably loads of other stuff they don’t share with me. They transcend geographical barriers; have instant dialogue and create new relationships. And it doesn’t cost them a penny.
But is this kind of networking really social, or is it in fact very anti-social?
I have always been an advocate of good, face-to-face communication. Eye contact, conversation-making, listening to others. These are all valuable social skills that are essential throughout your life and Facebook, MySpace, and the like could be threatening the development of these skills. Could we one day see Job interviews carried out by SMS using only words with no vowels?
On the other hand, the boys do appear to have successfully built a greater network of friends than they could have by travelling round and meeting everyone. And at least they are not just sitting in front of the TV, interacting with nothing at all.
Writing this, I probably sound like I am getting old and grumpy - but at least I have the TV remote control back!
