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what happened to all the social skills?

walkngplaygrnd by walkngplaygrnd · Aug 12, 2003 · 274 views · · · Journal

It seems that recently people have become extremely poor at face-to-face social skills. One can only assume that this is due to the advent of such things as e-mail, Instant Messaging, text messaging, and the like. It seems that people feel a lot tougher typing something to someone than actually saying it to them face-to-face . . . what ever happened to good, ol' fashioned hanging out? I'm sure some people still do it, but I know a LOT of people who feel just as comfortable sitting at a computer all night and typing away, rather than even picking up the phone and giving someone a call . . . you'd think someone would actually want to hear a live voice once in a while (unless you deal with that all day at work . . . BLAH) . . . but is it just me? Or have people become increasingly dependent on their non-verbal, impersonal communication skills?

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42 Comments

skaorsk8 skaorsk8OG 2002 ·

yeah it's true, but over IM you can talk to 4 people at once, whereas in real life that's rather difficult. i do enjoy real life conversations, but somehow, sitting at home in your pajamas online at 1 AM is just...easier.

ekulu ekuluOG 2002 ·

what aboutsitting at someone else's home at 1 AM in your pajamas?

skaorsk8 skaorsk8OG 2002 ·

it depends. who's pajamas are you wearing, exactly??

ekulu ekuluOG 2002 ·

yours. you want them back? the whole power puf girls style isnt working for me

skaorsk8 skaorsk8OG 2002 ·

haha i own only flannel pajamas. sure, it gets hot in the summer, but i'd rather sweat my brains out than be cold.

ilikebirds ilikebirdsOG 2002 ·

well talking on the phone isn't face time. but i'd totally rather hang out.. love the 'hang out'. but i do hate the phone. because whenever i'm on the phone.. i'm always doing something else. like eating..pooping...watching tv. there's no way i can lay down in a bed and talk on the phone with someone. unless of course i'm dead tired. already in bed, with noting else to do, it's 4am... and someone calls .

tinser tinserOG 2002 ·

i think there was a blurb about this in watching the world, in the awake just recently

walkngplaygrnd walkngplaygrndOG 2003 ·

that would make sense . . . I was probably just listening to it in my car or something

togatweeter togatweeterOG 2003 ·

i know how that is. urrrrrgh! this guy i know argues with me online and is always on my back. he doesn't have the guts to say things or insults in my face. and sometimes he ends up blocking me and runs away. so messed up

R
rocksupastarFounder ·

i have noticed that too, not only in other people but in myself. Why? I think what hilldan said is true, its just easier. I do not agree fully though, i believe chit chat can be done online, where as serious conversation can not be replaced by being done face to face...

skaorsk8 skaorsk8OG 2002 ·

hilldan? what're you, dyslexic now?

R
rocksupastarFounder ·

no, color blind, which pretty much adds up to the same thing.

ophelia opheliaOG 2003 ·

haha, matt neville, the drummer in my band is color blind..and every time it comes up i shout "hey, matt, you're color blind right?..how many fingers am I holding up?..Hey matt, you're color blind right?..Read that sign...haha"..& then he goes "I'm color blind, not retarded" we comence to physicality, and he roughs me up

ophelia opheliaOG 2003 ·

this trend is more than just internet related, it's pretty much a fact that if there's one consistant trend in society, it's usually a part of a ripple effect..the basic problem is, attention spans shorten by like 15% every generation - and instant gratification is slowley, but surely, creeping into every facet of life.(i really hope i'm not coming accross like that silly poem our bassist has in that opening song @ the show, lo)...the real gets replaced by the artificial - cause artificial takes less attention to handle - i.e. drive through fast food (they now have drive through funerals, I kid you not, this world is sick, lol) the remote control ( used to have to burn a WHOLE .32 calories to get up & change the channel, now you can just get sit on the couch and make use of your thumb)..Internet - instead of go through the motions of having to come up w/a verbal response face to face, it's a lot less of a hastle to just brain storm until you figure out what you wanna say, & then type it..the main reason for all this?..NUMBERS..everything is more, bigger, higher, than it's ever been - the amount of "needs" a man had in 1756 are literally like 1/10 of what modern "needs" are...& to accomidate these numbers, artificial means have been used to organize them (example, you wouldn't of needed "fast food" 2 century's ago, people could wait cause there wasn't big enough of a population to create a demand)

T
toxicgirlOG 2003 ·

Milton, how the heck do you manage to get the worlds longest responses to your journal entries????

walkngplaygrnd walkngplaygrndOG 2003 ·

its a gift . . . i like to be scandalous, and/or insightful . . . make people think, ya know . . . people don't do enough of that, in general, I think . . . this one's especially interesting, since the response is longer than my actual entry . . . by a LOT, too . . .

T
toxicgirlOG 2003 ·

My ADD is too severe to read the whole thing. My concentration was shot 4 lines in.

ophelia opheliaOG 2003 ·

yeah sometimes my mental blurbs turn into novels....snowball effect..haha..sorry...but I broke it down in there though..if you read the whole thing

yoda yodaOG 2003 ·

i think that the only person to respond longer is hunkpapa

ok4now ok4nowOG 2002 ·

i saw this pic the other day and almost puked. we used to be taught NEVER to hold a pencil like this. now it's normal!

ok4now ok4nowOG 2002 ·

(ian...what happened to table tags in comments? not allowed anymore?)

iwz iwz ·

yeah they get stripped out now along with many other tags. eventually, i actually want to come up with an easy to use tag system for bold, italics, and colors, and not allow any html. saves me a lot of hassle. (ie: bold italics blue etc) also, then you wouldn't have to put in stupid <br> and <p> tags, it would just get formatted.

ok4now ok4nowOG 2002 ·

hmm, not sure why you'd do that, but you're the sysop. have you seen what ezboard has done?

iwz iwz ·

tables tags are stripped out because people were abusing them and screwing up the page layouts. do you prefer the ezboard style tags? i kinda think they're just as hard to use as html, and don't really gain you much. what do you think?

ok4now ok4nowOG 2002 ·

i only liked the [link] tags, until i learned how to properly use the <anchor> tags. at this point, a code's-a-code's-a-code. i can see making the url's easier, and allowing enter=<br />. beyond making things easier for the newbies, i just don't know what you're getting at with the code-limits.

iwz iwz ·

hacker proofing.

ok4now ok4nowOG 2002 ·

for when you open up the site to the rest of the world? i don't know if i want to be around for that... ;)

theremin thereminOG 2002 ·

He'll get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, for certain.

ok4now ok4nowOG 2002 ·

this was on an msn news article about education...just a generic picture! i still can't believe it's considered okay.

thefunkyfresh thefunkyfreshFounder ·

you should see the way i hold one, you'd probably just drop dead

malibu malibuOG 2001 ·

this is the way i hold a pencil. or a pen. what's wrong with it? that's how i write.

thatdarngirl thatdarngirlOG 2002 ·

Maybe it has something to do with everyone being socially retarded and depressed so they don't want to leave their house and face the real world.

skaorsk8 skaorsk8OG 2002 ·

that's because the real world is full of people who make fun! when they have no right!

malibu malibuOG 2001 ·

or they are just fun and sarcastic people that get misunderstood.

walkngplaygrnd walkngplaygrndOG 2003 ·

I don't think I know any people like that . . . besides me, that is . . .

thatdarngirl thatdarngirlOG 2002 ·

Are you serious? You think you're the only sarcastic person that is mistaken for being serious and not taken as funny at all? You seriouslly abuse ...

malibu malibuOG 2001 ·

i think i could name on one hand all the things that haven't been sarcastic since the day i met lynz.

walkngplaygrnd walkngplaygrndOG 2003 ·

so . . . there is another . . .

walkngplaygrnd walkngplaygrndOG 2003 ·

wait . . . so there are MORE than just me? IMPOSSIBLE

malibu malibuOG 2001 ·

what's impossible is your humility level. i have never seen anyone being so humble besides what i read in bible accounts. that's all i'm saying. ahahhahah.

walkngplaygrnd walkngplaygrndOG 2003 ·

wait . . . are you "just saying"? HAHA

malibu malibuOG 2001 ·

yup. glad you caught it.

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