It is worth mentioning that the more mediums are introduced into our daily lives, the more distanced we find ourselves from each other physically. This has become especially apparent with the introduction of high-speed internet. Yet, we find ourselves effortlessly and quickly connecting with the entire world on a mental plane, capable of interacting with anyone regardless of their geographic location. We may find ourselves striking virtual friendships that can be deep and exciting, full of substance and content that can be explored further.
The globalized virtual platform allows even the humblest among us to find solace in digital organizations that focus on a specific field of interest or concern. We can articulate our thoughts and bring up apprehensions anonymously, without risking being detected and ridiculed openly.
The humblest and the shiest introverts have an opportunity to become recognized virtually and shine through with their unique technical skills, whether it is gaming, designing a platform, or hacking a system. They do not need to go through the anxiety and stress of networking and presenting themselves to the physical mass. It is enough to have solid hardware with rich memory and high-speed internet within the boundaries of their own room. This experience could be both satisfying and rewarding for such focused and introverted individuals, even if it means missing out more on natural kinds of interactions where social skills are very noticeable and desirable.
But what about those among us who crave traditional types of interactions where shared physical spaces are a vital part of our interactional experience? It seems that because of how quickly and constantly our intellectual curiosity is satisfied with a single click of a "search" command, the need to ask insightful questions in person hasn't only become obsolete, but the skill of asking good questions has deteriorated. It appears that everything that we need to know is available at our fingertips, and we unhesitantly replace a more fluid and dynamic type of information with a static one, generated through a digital search box.
A lot of dialogues are gradually reduced to need-based interactions, where language is used conservatively, with a limited and focused vocabulary. These types of dialogues are practical and actionable, and they can release a lot of productivity into our daily lives when we need to run errands, complete a project, or a simple transaction, but they do not predispose to allegorical improvisations, where the social plane could be used as a verbal playground.
This social transmutation, of course, happens unnoticeably. It might not take a long time until we find ourselves in an excessively linear and structured world, where not only its architecture is flat, predictable, and repetitive, but the conversations that happen within its boundaries carry the same characteristics.
If we end up finding ourselves trapped in such an extreme state of structure and predictability, will we be aware of it?
Or will we immerse in it so seamlessly that it will be deemed an organic and innate capacity within us, a genetic imprint that will become a part of our ancestral memory?
And those few among us who may fall out of the dormant state now and then, will we be able to recreate organic conversational spaces?
The following discourse may be full of exaggerations, but it reflects some visible social trends, where an informational exchange is escalated in speed, fragmented into smaller particles, and peeled off from any verbal residue that is not practical or focused.
If we unplug ourselves from this relentless cycle even for a moment, we may discover a void that has been quietly and steadily expanding within us.
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