Virtuality and immersion were topics and concepts which have been in the public mind for only a few years. Most people understand the idea of a ‘totally immersive experience’ with regard to video games and such standard home accoutrements as the X-box, Wii, and PlayStation. There are some unforeseen aspects to this sort of ‘virtual reality.
To be able to play games with ‘friends’ (people who likely don’t know, who may actually be in completely different countries) online is quite an interesting outgrowth of modern technology. The ability to ‘virtually’ chat with virtual strangers is another new form of personal interaction. Both of these new forms of communications have positive and some negative connotations; in this manner I don’t see this as any different from any other form of interaction. There are quite a few problems associated with direct face to face conversations…
What I find interesting is how some related technologies and gadgets can create a similar kind of virtual space for people. If you have spent any time at a bus stop lately, you might find that communicating with some of your fellow travelers is quite difficult (they are wearing MP3 players, using cell phones, or are interacting with smart phones). It seems that the simple, small art of talking with fellow ‘strangers’ is in peril.
I remember when I was last in college; several years ago I saw something which I found to be strange. As I walked down a hallway in one of the academic classroom buildings class just let out, and many (maybe 75%) of the students were already on their cell phones as they crossed the plane of the classroom door. I started to notice this more and more as I became aware of this feeble attempt to ameliorate the feelings of loneliness some of these freshmen students must have been going through.
I came to this conclusion after accidentally overhearing a few of the phone conversations. I didn’t see the real need to check to see if your roommate was up yet…even before you were in the hallway… in any case, I was subjected to hearing some similarly trite phone conversations.
Interacting with people in a new, strange place can be a bit stressful. I always thought that developing the tools to deal with these small stressors in life was one of the valuable skills you gain from going to college.
After having been subjected to seeing a lot of these less than effective means of dealing with what must seem to be an oppressive crush of strangers, I started to consider whether this was a harbinger for the future… I wonder what this would bode for the future of small talk. As an answer to some of my thoughts on this topic, I recently heard of a coffee shop in mid-town Manhattan where all use of electronic gadgets, MP3 players, smart phones, cell phones, laptops, kindles, and anything else is forbidden. As a consequence, this coffee shop is filled with a lot of real conversations, raconteurs, wags, and boulevardiers.
I wonder if we as a society will become mature enough in our use of gadgets to allow for some sort of accommodation of these differing ways to communicate.
