Disconnection: Is technology the cure or the enabler?
Advancements in technology have allowed for an increasingly interconnected world. From communicating through a mobile phone, video chatting from another country, and even feeling the simulated hug of a loved one miles away through robotics (Turkle, 2012; Cheok, Karunanayaka & Zhang, 2017), it seems like technology has enabled society to be more connected than ever. However, when a text can be sent instead of making a phone call or a machine can be substituted for a human interaction, relationships suddenly appear more disconnected than ever. One must wonder whether technology is the cure to our loneliness and distance, or rather the enabler (Turkle, 2012).
Turkle (2012), discusses the perceived bond between infant robots and humans when introducing MyRealBaby to adults. Although individuals maintain they are aware that this is a machine, and therefore devoid of experiencing feelings, they nevertheless report feeling bonded to their interactive dolls. Something akin to a relationship still develops. Initially, this may seem hard to fathom and even a rare occurrence to which others would be immune. However, as the younger generations reach for social networks to contact their peers online and label them ‘friends’, it does not seem so different other than perhaps a vague awareness of knowing the person controlling the other side of the interaction. Technology buffers many daily social interactions. Devices buy time for further consideration before engaging, it maintains physical distance, and it allows greater control to manipulate the perception of a user’s identity (Kaliarnta, 2016). Arguably, technology steals spontaneity by providing more time to think, it grants the illusion of togetherness when users are in fact alone, and it tampers with the authenticity of connections when users can present multiple versions of themselves.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been plunged into lockdowns, social distancing, and self-isolations to combat the spread of the virus leaving many in sudden solitude. In fact, COVID-19 has been called the pandemic of loneliness with a reported 7.4 million adults finding themselves noticeably lonely during lockdowns and 80% of chronically lonely individuals also feeling further impacts (Shah, Nogueras, van Woerden & Kiparoglou, 2020). It would be reasonable to assume that use of social networking and other technological communications would help to reduce levels of loneliness, and the World Health Organization indeed advised this practice (Shah, Nogueras, van Woerden & Kiparoglou, 2020). The research suggests a more complex conclusion. A study showed that in a group with two conditions, one maintaining normal use of social networking and the other reducing usage, those who used it less had lower levels of loneliness. It was suggested this was due to the quality of interactions and connections. Furthermore, whilst apps such as Twitter and Instagram have been associated with reduced loneliness, studies have found that it is important how these social networks are used. Posting content seemed to increase loneliness whereas simply consuming and interacting with other content seemed to decrease loneliness (Fumagalli, Dolmatzian & Shrum, 2021).
Despite increasing interconnectedness facilitated by technology, there is a persisting concern that we may be more disconnected than ever. In times of unavoidable absence, technology has proven to be an invaluable tool to keep the society connected. However, technology appears to be neither simply the cure nor the enabler to disconnection, but rather it is a tonic of your making and how it is used may be the real influence over the quality of connection.
References
Cheok, A. D., Karunanayaka, K., & Zhang, E. Y. (2017). Lovotics: Human-robot love and sex relationships. Robot Ethics 2. 0: New Challenges in Philosophy, Law, and Society, 193, 193–213. https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/19475/1/Lovotics%20human%20robot%20love%20and%20sex%20relationships.pdf
Fumagalli, E., Dolmatzian, M. B., & Shrum, L. J. (2021). Centennials, FOMO, and loneliness: An investigation of the impact of social networking and messaging/VoIP apps usage during the initial stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Frontiers in psychology, 12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7900425/
Kaliarnta, S. (2016). Using Aristotle’s theory of friendship to classify online friendships: a critical counterview. Ethics and Information Technology, 18(2), 65–79. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-016-9384-2
Shah, S. G. S., Nogueras, D., van Woerden, H. C., & Kiparoglou, V. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic: A pandemic of lockdown loneliness and the role of digital technology. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(11), e22287. https://www.jmir.org/2020/11/e22287
Turkle, S. (2012). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic Books.
