Lawrence Like A Little: Technology Being Used as a Scapegoat to Reality

Over the past winter break, many fellow Lawrentians surfing the World Wide Web belonging to a multitude of different Lawrence University Facebook groups may have recently found themselves joining the new Lawrence LikeALittle fan page. For those of you unfamiliar with LikeALittle, the concept itself consists of the use of anonymous flirt posts online for all viewers of that group to see, detailing key aspects from anything in regards to looks, personalities, or even the places college students have been spotted or reside in.  Initially, I realize this concept is for entertainment purposes and can be quite amusing when you go to a such a small school; especially one where you could easily be late for class as a result of 4 or 5 people coming up to say hello to you on your walk to Main Hall from the Warch Campus Center  (which should theoretically have taken 5 minutes but ended up being 10). What I’m trying to say is that being part of such a small campus, or more so such a tight knit community, it’s inevitable to know almost exactly who many of these posts are about or at least to have some definite assumption of who the flirts are more so being directed towards. “Brunette, male, football player, with great biceps, a gorgeous smile, and a great butt sitting in Andrew Commons….Oh how I wish he would just notice me and sit that butt right next to me someday!” While quotes like these are all surely fun and games, attracting great attention and indeed causing quite amusing  reactions at times from people trying to guess who each post is being directed towards, would it be reasonable to conclude that technology is potentially harming the human being’s physical socialization skills? Is technology hindering the ability for someone to start off a relationship the old fashion way by going up to another person and talking to them face to face, asking them to get a cup of coffee together, or from starting to get to know them on a more personal level first before automatically scanning their Facebook profile to find out their interests and likes.  Is it necessary to find out as much detail as you can about the person as you await their acceptance of your friend request while you hope they might stumble across the whimsical flirtation you were too shy to express to them yourself in person that you just wrote so blatantly obvious for them to see? Although, from a safety standpoint, “Googling” someone or scanning someone’s Facebook profile to ensure they are not a creeper is a very reasonable perspective,  and a great option in regards to the scary world in which we live nowadays, I feel like a loss of individuality is coming to today’s society in which our generation no longer knows how to “court” or more so no longer has the courage to initiate a face to face civil conversation with someone they would like to go on a date with. Rather, I think one could argue that this interaction is now being lost in the world of text messaging or Facebook chatting, merely allowing someone to hide behind a screen in hopes to avoid humility or embarrassment.  Even online internet sites like match.com trying to set people up just based on interests they may have checked on a piece of paper, I feel is truly causing a loss of the art of pride in one’s self, a sense of selfishness, as well as a loss of the respect taken in regards for other people.  Individualistic pride, courage, and independence are being lost in today’s world…instead people are depending on the internet as a social means in almost a selfish perspective in that they take are beginning to take pity on themselves saying things like, “He doesn’t notice me, he is constantly focused on that girl throwing herself at him, attached to his side…I mine as well just give up now, I have no chance with him….”  Rather than manning up and taking a risk in person to attempt to let that person know how they feel, or to find a compatible date, many people now are relying on the efforts of an internet site or a matchmaker to find themselves their future soul-mate/ to express their feelings to someone they could never do face to face. Isn’t that kind of embarrassing in some regards that as human beings some might rather spend all their time trying to get to know someone or express their feelings as much as they can over a computer screen versus taking the risk to jump on the ability to get to know that person (if accessible) right there in front of them in the cafeteria or at a sporting event, concert, party, etc. face to face in person? Although technology surely has its benefits to getting to know people, I ultimately believe that to some extents the art of maintaining human face to face interaction in person and getting to know people is being hindered by the use of technology as a scapegoat route to express our feelings in order to avoid the chance of humiliation.