Technology today provides us numerous new ways to interact with those around us. These recent developments are having profound impacts on the fundamental nature of human relations. In the not-so-distant past, human relationships were defined almost exclusively through face-to-face interactions — there was no other way to know another person. There were no phones, social media profiles or text messages. Fast forward to the present, and many of our impressions of people are formed without any direct contact at all. We gather our information through a social media post or perhaps a profile on a dating app. Interestingly, our opinions and impressions regarding an individual are often well-formed prior to ever meeting them in person.
If the relationship continues to develop, our interactions are often mediated through some form of technology — emails, phone calls, text messages, social media posts, etc.
When I was growing up, holding someone’s hand in public was a significant sign of relational commitment. The equivalent today is likely including someone and your interactions with them on your social media page. We manage our relationships through our technology by delaying a response or ignoring a text, by ghosting someone or simply responding to someone’s advances with a few emojis. Unfortunately, these technologies have greatly contributed to our lack of connection and general loneliness. Today 60% of adults report feeling lonely and those ages 18 – 22, digital natives, are the loneliest. Most modern people immersed in technology have exponentially more interactions and points of connection yet ironically feel unknown or misunderstood. Technology has not only impacted our personal friendships but our relationship with art and the built environment.
Most people today experience art and the built environment on a screen through some digital interface. Opinions, ideas and conclusions are largely formed without ever physically encountering or confronting the thing itself. As a result, many makers have dispensed with the physical, material world altogether — making the digital and virtual medium their ultimate end. This is the case with the spectacular image shown here developed by Josh Vermillion. My personal situation is to uncomfortably straddle these two distinct worlds, hesitantly adapting to this new every changing digital reality, with a firm foundation and passion for our material world. From my perspective, I sense society’s disconnection and disassociation with our material world — an inability, especially in the younger generations, to connect and find meaning, beauty and purpose in it. With every new technological development, new exciting opportunities emerge. However, in the excitement, we rarely consider the precious things that are being diminished.
dating myself….when I was young cars still had bench seats (which I kind of miss)…you knew when a young couple were dating because the girl would always slide over and sit right next to her BF…impossible in todays world….maybe getting rid of the bench seat was the beginning of that disconnection of which you speak…and I couldn’t agree more with the hostile world that technology is creating, but I hold out hope that technology will lead back to a human connection in some unforseen way….as fa ras that desert image is concerned I suggest comparing it to that scene from the film PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT…the tour bus in the Australian desert scene with the large cape flowing from the back of the bus in the open desert…unforgettable image