"Face to Face"

Have you noticed that today’s kids view making calls as one of the least useful tools on their smart phones. Texts, emails, games, music, and apps all seem to be much more important than talking to another person. We have all seen two friends walking silently together while they text or email people who aren’t there. I have seen adult couples at a restaurant sitting at the same table staring down into iPhones or Blackberries rather than into each other’s eyes. While all of this technology is connecting us in powerful and sometimes wonderful ways, I wonder if they are also causing significant disconnection. 

So many of today’s “conversations” are mediated by screens both large and small. Are our kids losing the ability to read social facial expressions and social cues? Will we only know how someone is feeling if they shoot us a winking, frowning, or smiley face emoticon?

Last week, Mr. Vega and Ms. Cadigan were talking to the Middle School about responsible use of technology, particularly social media like texting, facebook, skyping, chatting, and email. After a great dialogue about online identity, personal responsibility, and safety, and in an effort to stem the tide of disconnected conversations, the adults reminded the students that there were other (albeit older fashioned) modes of personal communication as well. On the whiteboard they listed, among other things:

• Phone Calls
• Writing a Letter
• Face-to-Face Conversation

One seventh grader slyly asked, “What’s face-to-face conversation?” An eighth grader in the back of the room deadpanned, “A face is what you see on the screen when you video chat.” This was all in good fun and the teachers loved the fact that kids were able to lampoon the lesson as it was happening. It showed that the kids understood and hopefully appreciated the message that was being conveyed on a deep level. It also made me wonder, though, if all this social media is making us anti-social.