I'm reading a facinating article from the book The Future Does Not Compute. Here are some of the comments from the chapter titled Networks and Communities:
"It is not surprising that in a culture widely cited for its loss of community, the word 'community' itself should come in for heavy use."
Does the Internet represent "a return to the fundamental dynamics of human existence: communication and community" as Michael Strangeglove writes in The Internet Business Journal?
We talk about online community [MySpace, FaceBook, etc.] all the time (especially where I 'live'). For 'natives' of the digital-cyber age (NetGen) this may be 'real,' for those of us more 'immigrant' it's a hard concept to grasp. I realize and see validity in the cyber community, but I doubt that we, as human beings, can get all of our relational needs met through a distant electric (computer or telephone based) social group. How do you really recieve a hug, handshake or kiss online? Is there more to emotional affirmation? Is not touch (physical sensation) necessary to the well being of the psyche?
Just food for thought.
Back to the article to close (for now): "There is no doubt that physical networks will dramatically affect the form of our communities. But if we fail to distinguish radically between such networks and the personal sources of community, then the only sure thing is that we will continue to degrade what community remains."
Oregon Live just posted a most interesting and funny article from The Oregonian. It's about this book, it's about this author, it's about Facebook and other social networks and the effects on community within the church.
