Alone on the Web

In the philosophical “Book of Disquiet”, the poet and philosopher Fernando Pessoa (1) confronts us with our social indifference in this shocking passage: "When they told me yesterday that the tobacconist had committed suicide, I had the impression of a lie. Poor guy, he existed too! We'd forgotten all about it, all of us who knew him just as much as all those who didn't know him. Tomorrow we'll forget it better" (2).

Social indifference is a construction of the modern world, and it continues to deepen...

Digital connection, messaging, chats, and social networks have always been presented as a panacea for our loneliness. Where we find lost friends, and forgotten memories, where we extend friendships and contacts, and create endless circles of virtual connections.

But contrary to what the likes, connections, and followers promise, some maintain that digital is no less indifferent to the other.

In a post from May 1, 2021, Jeffrey N Pickens, says that: “Social isolation and loneliness are increasing in the new digital age, especially with the lack of in-person contact during the pandemic” (3). And this doesn't just have to do with the period of the pandemic, all studies point to the fact that the increase in digital connection not only does not reduce loneliness but has the effect of increasing it.

In the transition to the city, we lost the perception of where we live. Our next-door neighbor, and the population of the building where we live, were reduced to passers-by with whom we occasionally share one public transport, which we call the elevator.

Now, in this process of social digitalization, we have also removed from our experience that obstacle which is the identifiable face of the other.

In our transition to the information society, we have digitized our social perception. We are now a “profile”.

We ride the wave of numbers. How many followers, how many connections, how many friendships, how many likes, how many comments… Our identity is now measurable. We're that profile with X connections, Y followers, and N comments. Tomorrow we'll have X+1 connections, and Y+3 followers, and maybe N+5 comments. One day we'll be a leading profile!... Even if it comprises a mass of uncritical followers of the trivialities we copy from some almanac of quotes.

We are reduced to digits in the electronic processing of our successful profiles. Zeros and ones recorded on electronic media. We measure the success of our social communities mathematically. Statistically, we are a success. Some leave, others join, but we hit another 0 to the right of the magic number that will make us a Top Voice profile.

And it's much easier to be indifferent in cyberspace. In the digital world, our profiles often have very little of us. It's hardly even ignoring the other person, it's just one less profile in the digital success statistic...

What if I get sick and stop accessing the Internet?

I'm sure I'll still be in the follower count of a few profiles, in the portfolio of social networks, in the statistical proof of the success of the information society.

But will any profile visit me to see how I'm doing?

PDV

2024

#48k #digitallaw #digitalsociology #digitalpsychology #informatics #cyberspace #solitudeNotes:

(1) About the poet, thinker, and philosopher Fernando Pessoa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pessoa

(2) Fernando Pessoa, Livro do Desassossego, Edi??o de Richard Zenith, Circulo de Leitores, 2006.

(3) in https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychology-through-technology/202105/is-loneliness-side-effect-the-digital-social-world