Communities Are Not Dead--Even with Technology

Because of the growing nature of technology, people are more connected now than ever before. People have the ability to interact through social media accounts and online services, like Skype or Google Hangout.

With the increased use of technology as a form of social interaction in the U.S. and around the world, some argue that this dependence on technology actually deteriorates communities.

Jim Hightower said, “While all this razzle-dazzle connects us electronically, it disconnects us from each other, having us 'interfacing' more with computers and TV screens than looking at the face of our fellow human beings.”

In many ways, I see his point. Sometimes I find myself crawling into bed and spending an additional 30 minutes on my phone on social media before actually going to sleep.

Just looking around the room in my last class, I counted seven people within an arms-length away from me perusing Facebook or Pinterest.

Then you can factor in online games or video games that allow you to connect with people from across the country.

It is so easy to waste time on these online communities and justify it because we are connecting with our friends, or making new friends. Although I feel it is easy to waste time on social media, I do not necessarily agree that technology is completely tearing apart a sense of community.

The reading talks about how sociologists have worried about the persistence of community during every big shift in technology throughout history.

I agree that with the changes in technology, should come a new definition of the word "community." As technology helps people stay connected with one another, the word “community” shifts from being just a tightly-knit group of neighbors to a social network of people who may no longer live within close proximity of one another.

 Some may worry that staying connected online means disconnecting from the outside world. I think this is a possibility, but if used properly, social media and technology can help build communities through transitivity.

Social media communities allow us to not just connect with people we know directly, but to meet and interact with people through other people. 

Just over Christmas break, I was able to have an informational interview with a PR agency in New York. I made the connection through someone I met in person and then through social media. This connection was possible because of transitivity and technology. 

Furthermore, social media and technology allows people to meet others with similar interests from around the world. Doing a search in Twitter for "online communities," brings up several examples of groups of people with common interests that would have never been ale to meet without technology.

Here you can find the Twitter search results for an "online community."

Some of the results include: 

1. Gay Online Community

2. National Geographic Photography

3. Blacks in Technology

4. Serious Eats

5. Safety Community

So yes, it can be easy to get sucked into technology and forget to make connections in the real world. But it is also easier today to find people who are interested in the same things you are interested in. 

If you do it right, your social networks can grow through your individual connections and their connections. As your social networks grow, your own personal networks grow.