Belonging

[Deleted472477User]

I often feel like I don't really 'fit in' much of anywhere, if by fitting in you mean 'a valued and accepted part of any given group'. I don't fit in really on many internet forums either in my own view of things. I don't usually feel badly of it, other than occasionally wishing my posts generated more discussion. I just sort of hang out, occasionally speak up when I have something to say, then lurk again. I'm mostly an introvert anyway, especially offline. I like people, I just don't to need to be yakking all day to feel happy :)

[marharth]

I like being able to talk to only the people I want to talk to.

 

I don't like quite a lot of people and the internet allows you to weed out the ones you don't want to be associated with.

[Sync182]

This topic goes hand-in-hand with another topic in this sub-forum: Communication.

 

As has been stated previously - humans are, generally, social beings. We like, as a general rule, to talk and congragate with others. The advent of social media such as Facebook and Twitter has allowed us to become more able to socialise with others.

 

At the same time, our ability to be social is slowly declining due to those exact same reasons. As we socialise on the internet, we become less capable of being sociable with people. Our ability to properly communicate dwindles with the increased use of text-speak:

 

 

What a lot of people - especially the younger generation - don't realise is that at least 50% (I'm pretty sure it's more, but let's work with that) of communication is done through visual means: body language being the most important. Understanding context is done by hearing how something was said as well as hearing what was said. As soon as you move to text-based communication, about 75% of the intended message is instantly lost.

 

We may be socialising more, but we are becoming less sociable. We may be communicating more, but we are becoming less communicative. We may feel like we belong to a wider community when social media is used, but we achieve this from an increasing isolation.

 

If you want to really belong to something, if you want to really communicate with people, if you want to really socialise with others...get off your ass, leave your house, and join a club of some description (perferably one that falls in line with whatever hobby you may have...if you have one outside of your cyber-life).

 

(That last comment is not aimed at anyone here - it is a statement that needs to be broken over the heads of the younger generation.)

Edited July 11, 2011 by Sync182

[Aurielius]

"If you want to really belong to something, if you want to really communicate with people, if you want to really socialize with others...get off your ass, leave your house, and join a club of some description (preferably one that falls in line with whatever hobby you may have...if you have one outside of your cyber-life)."

 

@Sync182

Absolutely true, the real world beckons and it has more things to offer than any cyberworld at least that are of real value..There is gong to be a whole generation that thinks whats on their little screen is more real than reality, very sad.