We see it all the time… people at a bar or
restaurant, enjoying a meal “together”, on the bus with their friend, going
somewhere “together”, spending time “together” with their family. Today
“together”, in the context in which I refer to it above, maybe just as plain as defining it as;
Together:
in proximity to another person or people.
The word together, to me, feels as though
it is more than simply the definition above. I feel as though together means,
not only in proximity of another person, but sharing an experience with the
other person, exchanging feelings that only being in the presence of another human
being can make you feel. Call me an idealist, a dreamer, a romantic, but I
truly believe your connotation of this word, together, is very similar.
With the ever-growing penetration that the Internet has in our lives, are we
truly as together and as truly well connected and together as social media platforms like
Facebook and LinkedIn would lead you to believe? Do we really know as much as
we think about the people we need to care about and love?
The issues with our increased ability to contact people via the Internet and phones we hold if our hands, discussed in
Sherry Turkle 20 minute TED Talks presentation, are culminated in a very
distressing, daunting story I read last summer of a 15-year old Vancouver girl named Amanda Todd.
If you are easily upset by stories of isolation and bullying I would like to
issue a word of caution; it is greatly saddening but nevertheless, provides a very
important lesson to all users of the Internet. Amanda was cyber-bullied to the point of extreme depression and eventually suicide. In the end this poor girl turned to the one thing that she knew
would listen, technology, youtube, to tell her story.
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