Techno‐social Life: The Internet, Digital Technology, and Social Connectedness

Abstract

This essay explores what it means to be socially connected in a techno-social world. It describes how a "triple revolution" in social connectedness has been catalyzed by the ever-increasing use of the Internet, mobile communication, and social media networking (Rainie and Wellman 2012). It argues for the usefulness of the concepts of the community and the network in understanding how social connectedness is created and experienced in the use of digital (computerized) communication technology. It examines some of the consequences -both benefits and hazards -of being near-continuously available to one another via the Internet, mobile phones, and social media. And it describes how digital (online) and face-to-face (offline) spaces become fully integrated and experienced as a single, enmeshed reality. The article concludes that people's use of digital communication technology tends to strengthen social connectedness and prompt, not deter, face-to-face interaction and local community ties.Communication technology is embedded in the way people live, think, and associate with others. Technology -the practical application of tools, machines, knowledge, and ideas in productive activities, such as communicating with others ( Jary and Jary 1991, 515) -has accompanied and influenced social life since the development of picture-writing and words. For those who live in societies rich in digital (i.e., computerized) communication technology, opportunities to share information, identify interpersonal commonalities, get to know others, and interact and form social connections with them can be so plentiful that they can be said to live techno-social lives (see Chayko, forthcoming; Ito and Okabe 2005; and Zeynep Tufekci's blog technosociology.org).In the modern technologized era, digitally enabled connections are created at almost every social juncture imaginable: locally, with people in geographical proximity, across great distances, and even in online contexts independent of physical space and geography. Widespread, increasing use of the Internet, mobile communication, and social media networking has revolutionized social life. Communicating with one another readily, easily, and frequently, individuals form genuine relationships and become part of meaningful social groupings at an unprecedented rate, pace, and scope -especially those who spend significant time in expressive (vs. instrumental) Internet use (Tufekci 2008). Rather than socializing within a relatively few tightly knitted groups, people now tend to become part of numerous, far-flung, diverse social networks that they expect will meet many of their social, emotional, and even economic needs (Rainie and Wellman 2012).It should perhaps not be surprising, then, that the impact of these relatively recent technological developments is being hotly debated. How do people live within and shift among these "far-flung" networks, and what is gained and lost along the way? What are the consequences of having near-constant availability to one another? Has face-to-face interaction a...

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“…In this context, it is possible to say that communication technologies in particular have a critical importance in the development and maintenance of social connectedness. Hence, Chayko (58) (59). Intense use of technology restricts the individual's true social environment interactions and interpersonal relations which cause the individual to move away from the real social environment.…”

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