Generation Net the loneliest of all (Stuff)Interesting article on Stuff talking about the problems of loneliness faced by I assume the younger generation in the internet age or as they call them, Generation Net.
Not sure that this is anything new - people have always experienced isolation and loneliness - but this article tries to put things into a context around what's happening in the modern age.
A young person is still learning how to manage relationships and inevitably it takes time to take all this in. Some will succeed whereas many will stumble through their whole lives like a train wreck.
What I think the article is trying to articulate is that young people may be failing sometimes to cultivate meaningful relationships in person. Retreating to the web for support is not the same as talking things through one to one.
I'd argue that for people looking for help on loneliness the internet has the potential to provide more information than has been available to any generation before. After all, before the web, if you failed to connect with someone to talk through your issues, you really had nowhere else to look. Now you have a wealth of opinion at the click of mouse but whether you can actually decrypt any of this detail is another matter.
What we must not allow to happen is that people lose sight of the fact that real human, in person relationships are what life is all about. The vacuous concept of 1000 Facebook friends is totally meaningless against a single real friend who is there to listen and support you. The thought that people would actually prefer to hold a text exchange rather than have a meaningful dialogue with real words spoken, facial expressions observed, emotions felt and understanding reached - that would be a tragedy.
Still, people will always experience loneliness. How they are supported through that time has little to do with technology and much more to do with real human warmth.
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