How Sociable Are You?

I'm pretty sure these networks are accessible where I work (university) since they are accessible via the Internet, but I really don't know, as I have no interest in them. The policy here is that casual use of computers for communicating with friends and surfing the web are allowed. The key is in the word "casual". It should not detract from job performance or duties. I think a few emails a day to friends (as long as they don't become short stories) and surfing the web over a lunch hour is considered acceptable.

My opinion is that if people are doing this enough to cause employers to have to attempt some measures to limit it, then the people involved in such networks, need to scrutinize themselves a bit. I remember when there was a "texting" blackout or something a couple of years ago. I either heard or read how so many young people were in a panic because they suddenly couldn't be in contact with their friends, etc. Isn't that a bit like someone who can't seem to leave home and have his/her own life? I suppose it depends on the technologies you grow up with. I didn't grow up with computers, video games, texting, etc. So I don't miss something that never became a part of my life. Well, let me backtrack and say that we have allowed computers to become integrated into our lives so much that we all would be at a loss if they all suddenly died. So much of the "information" of our lives and their trails are stored electronically. Most of the photographs we take are usually not printed -- only select ones. Business correspondence is kept in electronic form. Most written communication is via emails. Since most people don't back up their "data" as regularly as they should, we've probably all experienced the panic of a hard disk crash and the "pain" of losing some of this "data."

But social networks...? I think the issue of doing it too much at the office is an indication that these folks are too dependent on it. Humans are very susceptible dependency. Whatever we incorporate into our lives that becomes "habitual" will feel like a "loss" if taken away. I will admit I am too dependent on computer technology. But that is a tool that is a basic business tool. Unless you are doing manual labor as a job, a computer is a tool that is provided to almost any other worker in their employment. (Cell phones "seem" to have become just as necessary. But are they?) That's how integrated these devices have become, not only in our lives personally, but in our lives collectively as a society. Using any of these tools inappropriately at work is the issue. Most people wouldn't try to use their computer a work for things they would use a computer at home for... until now. Undue attention to social networks at work is no different from standing around talking instead of working. I think cell phones have a detrimental side, too. The ease with which we can communicate these days is unhealthy, I think. There was another thread recently here on CR4 about solitude, and how today's technology has almost erased it. People have lost touch with that. Knowing how the mind becomes addicted to these habits, I don't see it getting better, anymore than I see fast food going away.

I'm retired, so I do what I wish, but I have strong reservations at describing this use as sociable. I think they are anti-social because they take the place of real, face to face social meetings with their additional means of communication; facial expression and body language.