The internet is a great enabler but it is also insidiously dehumanizing and has a propensity to undermine a societal commitment to upholding human rights.
Over the weekend, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph — argued that social networking sites like Facebook lead to young people “commoditising” friendship and that this in turn is causing anxiety and suicide.
“Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they’re desolate,” Archbishop Nichols argues.
It is hard not disagree with this assessment when we are faced with the reality of an increasing number of teenagers who are taking their lives after their so called “friends” use Facebook to belittle and ridicule them.
Last week Megan Gillan, a student from Cheshire in the UK, took an overdose of pills after reading comments on Bebo, a site that collates data from Facebook and other social networking sites, about her appearance and clothes. This is a real problem with Facebook and other sites. It can destroy the self esteem of already vulnerable people — “look, I have 400 ‘friends’, you only have 10, you’re a loser.”
People do boast about how many “friends” they have and even the media is now taking to looking at the Facebook friends of people they are writing about. Take this absurd paragraph from The Age’s Gabriella Coslovich on May 23 in a piece on The Monthly’s new editor.
“The Monthly magazine has a new editor — a 23-year-old Melbourne man and recent university graduate whose 274 Facebook friends include the popular Swiss philosopher Alain de Botton,” Coslovich wrote, presumably without her tongue in her cheek.
But as Archbishop Nichols says “friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it’s right.” The notion that you can become a “friend” simply at the click of a mouse is absurd as Bill Gates found out when he acquired 10,000 such ‘friends’ before rightly pulling the plug in Facebook earlier this year.
The importance of real life friends is not something that can be emphasized too much and the danger is that a combination of electronic communication in all its forms — whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or whatever is just around the corner — will make it more difficult for future generations to care for each other in real life. If Facebook and other electronic social interaction sites are marketed to children under 10 — and by the way it is staggeringly easy for an 8 or 9-year-old to register on Facebook by posing as a 16-year-old — then this should be cause for concern in our democracy.
This is because a society in which human rights are taken seriously by all begins with the way it educates its young and guides them. Teaching children the importance of physical friendship means developing their capacity for sympathy, empathy and tolerance of others. This is not something that can be gained from Twittering or having a Facebook page.
“It is hard not disagree with this assessment” – ?
Greg, I take it thet you mean” it’s hard to disagree ” or maybe” it’s hard not to agree”
I suspect Tony Abbott wishes he had written that!!!!
There will always be people who react intemperately
It is a notice board
Its the over communication thats the thing
Wow, Greg Barns turns to a Catholic Archbishop for insights about social media technology and the safety of children… ahem.
Where is the evidence (you’re a lawyer, right?) to support your idea Greg? Or is it just a little anecdotal evidence here and there?
So much discussion on these topics comes across as misinformed ‘e-Chicken Little’ nonsense.
Research suggests:
1. Social networking serves to strengthen existing friendships (See US article).
2. Internet allows people to extend their social networks (certainly beyond the limits of geography) which decreases isolation, not the opposite as the Archbishop implies.
3. Online behaviour often to increase offline social interaction, socialability, trust and the level of community activity/involvement.
These last two points, and much more research, are summarised at this excellent summary. It even points out the (short-lived) debate between positive and negative effects of internet and social networking.
I laud Greg Barns’ work on the republic and asylum seekers, but with this article, he has strayed onto distant and curmudgeonly turf.
Young people today. Not like in your day, eh Greg? They don’t know they’re born etc.