The Degradation of Real Life Communities

The internet. We use it everyday, for everything from getting up to the second breaking news to searching for recipes for Thanksgiving. The near-ubiquitous nature of the internet makes the world we live in so much smaller than it physically is. Video chats and e-mail make intercontinental correspondence make what used to be day, even month, long journeys almost instantaneous. As these protocols become more and more widely accepted by society, what happens when someone decides that it is easier to call in to the office for a meeting from home, instead of driving 15 minutes to the office? What if town hall meetings were now held on online forums? The internet is slowly destroying real life communities due to the impersonal nature and, to a certain extent, the anonymity available on the internet.

Take for example the first time that class was held online instead of going to class. All of us has a working, real life relationship between each other and as a class as a whole, a real life "community" of sorts. Yet, when we met online, the conversation was dominated by a few, while others had next to no input within the discussion. Despite the fact that similar class discussion in the classroom mirror the discussion online, there was, to a certain extent, some sort of mode to keep everyone engaged in the discussion. Whereas online, there was nothing keeping some people held accountable for not engaging in the conversation. While the few who willingly participated felt like the community was growing as a whole, everyone else was either not paying attention or not even there to contribute to the discussion. This is slowly destroying the relationships that each student has with the others in the class because what was said in the online discussions could be brought into the class discussions and the ones who did not pay attention could be lost and later become lethargic upon having to go back and get up to speed in the conversation. Having everyone in class and having them participate helps the community as a whole grow, where the internet has no mechanism to push the community along as a whole.

The internet is killing off real life communities. Many people use Facebook and Myspace to keep in touch, but there is no substitute for a face to face physical meeting.