I've been on both sides of the "Why are you asking me this when you can just google it?" scenario. I have been the asker of the simple question as well as the person giving the irritated answer while thinking something, well, not so nice.
When there is a wealth of information out there, just waiting to be explored, what happens to conversation? I've started to rely more on personal knowledge and expertise than on looking things up. That's not to say I can't look on google and find the answer, but I just like to learn things from real people when I can. If someone is already well-informed on an issue, why not take advantage of that by engaging in a conversation you both will enjoy?
I can look up the rules to a baseball game, but it's much better to ask the person you're with if they know the answer. I think for the most part that people enjoy explaining things they enjoy. If you're with someone who loves sports, they probably enjoy helping someone else understand it and establish their own enjoyment of it.
I feel like people are drifting farther and farther away from each other. (Further and further?) Personally I prefer electronic communication to in-person communication, where I often stutter and use the wrong word and have trouble expressing myself. I'm a much better writer than talker. But even then I still try to talk to people about their passions and learn from them instead of opening a new tab up in Safari.
I've read articles about how people should stop using google to answer all of their questions and just go back to good old-fashioned debate on topics that both people think they're 100% correct about, and they always left me with a weird taste in my mouth. I don't think that we should ABANDON the knowledge we have access to. I think that you should have good old-fashioned debate and then when both sides have exhausted their resources, you look up the answer and then start a whole new debate about that.
Technology shouldn't destroy human interaction and human interaction shouldn't destroy technology. They should work together in harmony. I can go on about how my family is able to experience so much of my life 3,000 miles away only because of the technology we have, but I won't. I'm saying that that fact doesn't mean that all of my friends here on the east coast need to be relegated only to seeing my facebook and instagram. We actually have the luxury of seeing each other in person and engaging in conversation (and it really is a luxury).
When there is a wealth of information out there, just waiting to be explored, what happens to conversation? I've started to rely more on personal knowledge and expertise than on looking things up. That's not to say I can't look on google and find the answer, but I just like to learn things from real people when I can. If someone is already well-informed on an issue, why not take advantage of that by engaging in a conversation you both will enjoy?
I can look up the rules to a baseball game, but it's much better to ask the person you're with if they know the answer. I think for the most part that people enjoy explaining things they enjoy. If you're with someone who loves sports, they probably enjoy helping someone else understand it and establish their own enjoyment of it.
I feel like people are drifting farther and farther away from each other. (Further and further?) Personally I prefer electronic communication to in-person communication, where I often stutter and use the wrong word and have trouble expressing myself. I'm a much better writer than talker. But even then I still try to talk to people about their passions and learn from them instead of opening a new tab up in Safari.
I've read articles about how people should stop using google to answer all of their questions and just go back to good old-fashioned debate on topics that both people think they're 100% correct about, and they always left me with a weird taste in my mouth. I don't think that we should ABANDON the knowledge we have access to. I think that you should have good old-fashioned debate and then when both sides have exhausted their resources, you look up the answer and then start a whole new debate about that.
Technology shouldn't destroy human interaction and human interaction shouldn't destroy technology. They should work together in harmony. I can go on about how my family is able to experience so much of my life 3,000 miles away only because of the technology we have, but I won't. I'm saying that that fact doesn't mean that all of my friends here on the east coast need to be relegated only to seeing my facebook and instagram. We actually have the luxury of seeing each other in person and engaging in conversation (and it really is a luxury).
No comments:
Post a Comment