What does it mean to live in the Network society after all?

As I prepared to gather my ideas and write this post I came across this interesting piece. To give a brief idea what it is about, the article mentions some ‘millennials’ who used to be very active (we can even say addicted) in social media and eventually got tired of it. They felt they were too exposed, they felt bad about themselves because all their friends seem so happy. Lena Dunham said Twitter is ‘cancerous’. Completely understandable. Some of them went back online later on but with a different approach – less inclined to share ‘every emotion’ they have or to follow thousands of people on Instagram. One person even talks about the relief of being away from her phone.

Too much exposure lead people to value their privacy. Being part of big communities made us look for self-knowledge. We, as a society, are trying to find a balance between what is new and what we were used to.

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Convergence seems to me just a fancy name we give to the chaos we’re stuck in. Using one single device to call your mom, read the news, stalk your ex-boyfriend can makes us more clever but too dependent somehow. Yes, we can have the world in our phone, and yet, why does it feel so good to get rid of it for a while?

I guess living in the networked society of today means we are still learning how and where to set the boundaries in the way we communicate with each other. This society is fragile and in constant change. What once seemed easy and fun is now perceived as overwhelming and stressful. The internet is part of one natural process of evolution we are still going through.

This post ended up being more reflective than conclusive, so did this module. Nevertheless, this is what has always pushed mankind to develop themselves, isn’t it?

3 Comments

  1. I completely understand what your point of view, we still aren’t used to all this, we are all trying to adapt, but as you said it, it is a natural evolution but maybe is a little to fast, the things evolve so fast now a days , what normally would take 10 years to develop no it takes 1 year. In my opinion the human being can’t adapt so fast as the technology want us to.

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  2. I definitely agree with your point that convergence seems to cover the chaotic nature of our current technological situation. I think living in a network society means being connected, despite the fact that sometimes we don’t agree with the degree to which we are all intertwined. There is a certain amount of inevitable vulnerability that comes with a such a connected society.

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  3. We all know the girl who texts through dinner dates, compulsively checks Instagram to see what all her friends are eating at other restaurants, or ends every argument with a Google search—she’s one of those people so tied to their cell phones that it’s never out of arm’s reach. But what if that friend is… you? Smartphone addiction may have sounded like a punchline at first, but experts caution it is a real and growing problem. In fact, nomophobia, or the fear of being without your mobile devices, is now recognized as a serious enough affliction to warrant checking into a rehab facility!

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