Hypercompendia

There's no doubt in my internet-reliant mind that social networking has some tremendous benefits to mankind. There's no match to it as far as locating the widest possible array of information and opinion of individuals upon a single focused topic. The ease and accessibility of communication is a matter of minutes rather than hours or days or weeks. Drilling down within a grouping can create a more specific arena for discussion.  Some who would have absolutely no hope of finding what they were seeking have almost limitless opportunity to connect with someone who can help.

I've always felt that the timespan of my parents' lives (Dad: 1911 – 2004; Mom: 1912 – 2002) was one of the most actively advancing eras. Horses became cars became jets; telephones became email; libraries became instantaneous fonts of information online. Never once, in all my long discussions with my Dad about changing times was he ever insistent about "the good old days," but rather he welcomed the technology and was awed by what it provided.

What my Dad did miss, however, was the intimacy of face-to-face dealing with others. He wouldn't go so far–and neither will I–as to bypass the
real live clerks at the supermarket to have his purchases read by a
talking scanner.Even there, he noticed a kind of glassy-eyed response that came close to mimicking the monitor of the "quick-scan" computer "clerk." When I set him up with a computer (at age 90) and explained email, I could see him worrying that his girls wouldn't be calling or coming over as often.

As with all improvements by invention, much is gained, but we'd be fools to believe that something is not as well, lost. The car put an end to horses and farriers and the bond between man and animal (though some Lamborghini owners are known to stroke their cars). The airplane put a serious dent in cross country travel and talking to the guy sitting next to you at some small diner in West Podunk, Indiana. Some of this loss is perfectly acceptable and some of it is lamentable, but change is definitely a cause and effect in itself.

More good: In particular for kids who can talk with their peers and learn new things about cultures directly from a child halfway across the globe. For the elderly, who might have little communication if it weren't for the power of internet groups and places such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Plerk, weblogs, etc. and to a greater degree, email with relatives in this more scattered family society. Shut-ins, the disabled, the hopelessly shy, the outsider in school; all these have a chance at friendships and sharing interests that would not be as readily available if it were not for networking systems. Who would've thought that some of us might almost envy Bubbleboy? Business networking saves time, money, travel (though you wouldn't know it from the state the corporate world is in.)

I'll get to The Bad and The Ugly eventually, but I might choose to explore the various organized networks online to a better depth to find perhaps some statistics on their use, their growth, and their future.