@Socrates_in_the_21st_century

The other night my brother texted me on his way back from work for the evening. He was telling me about how he had to transfer from train to bus due to a police directive. Apparently something was wrong in the area and they had to shut down the train station by his apartment. The Chicago Transit Authority does not exactly have the most efficient image, so he was grumbling about what was going on. He asked if I could check it out for him, so I checked the local Chicago news network websites and realized that it was the result of a potential hostage situation. But this was all of the information that the networks were giving and it was updated over an hour ago. At this time last year, I would’ve stopped there and given my brother that information hoping for the best. Now that I am a social media connoisseur, that was not enough. I headed straight to Twitter to do some further investigation and found pictures of the building where the criminal was barricaded, pictures of the police blockade, updates of shots heard  and several videos of armored trucks and SWAT officers. I got to send a lot more information to my brother on the situation, and he got to inform everyone else on the bus with him what was really happening! He said everyone wasn’t nearly as pissed off about the minor travel inconvenience when they understood the situation. I like to think my social media savvy saved that bus driver an extra headache from listening to a bunch of whiny Chicagoans.

While that is a minor victory for social media in a world constantly reaping the benefits of the new forms of communication, it represented something significant for me. The range of possibilities created by social web interaction is reminiscent of many other communication breakthroughs throughout history. The written word is argued to be one of the greatest human inventions ever. At many stages of development and advancement, breakthroughs in communication were driving forces behind the development. The printing press allowed for mass production of certain ideas. The telegraph allowed for information to be transferred immediately. Telephones made this feat more efficient. The ability to communicate and share ideas has significantly impacted scientific advancements. Prior to this class I didn’t consider social media the next step in the evolution of communication, now I know it has to be.

The approach that was stressed in this class was one of thoughtful consideration of all consequences of the current technology. This included the Good, the Bad and the Ugly but also the inspiring. Although the focus of the class was the impact of social media in the current business world, it developed into nearly a philosophy/psychology class for me. Through the thoughtful discussions in class and the necessity of reflecting back on that discussion in this blog, I learned as much about the human condition as I did by reading some of the great classics of the 20th century in one of my other classes (hope that other professor isn’t a subscriber to this  blog). What better way is there to understand the inner workings of man than by investigating how one interacts with another?

My focus on the existential exploits of social media may be exaggerated because of the 15-page paper I spent writing all of yesterday, but many of my activities in life are viewed through the lens of what I’m studying. As a mathematics major one of my other major takeaways is  the statistical implications of large social networks. In the past it was necessary to collect data for small subsets of populations and then project that analysis onto the rest of the population. With the social networks of each niche, it is possible to analyze data for entire demographics with enough size to  represent a true population sample!

There will always be people who quickly dismiss the development of new technology as a fad. There will always be those people who tweet out whatever comes to their mind, like what color socks they are wearing that day (friend tweeted pic of Christmas socks…pretty cool socks but still). Perhaps the most interesting thing I found about social media? These people are the extremes. They will always be there and are vital to testing the limits of a technology. But the actual social media landscape is shaped by the common user. Social media cannot survive without users and that is key. Facebook may be selling our information to large corporations, but it is within the users hands to decide if this is truly how they want social media to develop. If we don’t like something, stop using it. The social network without social activity is useless. From a users standpoint it is empowering to know that unless we are benefiting from using the site we won’t use it, thus forcing creators to cater to the general users wishes. While in certain instances we may not know exactly what is best for us (i.e. Facebook newsfeed) in general our desires create a better product. The future is ripe with possibilities, but as supremely social beings, we can only benefit from increased interaction…right?

Gobblin’ down some Thanksgiving Stats

A basic marketing tenet is that that more you know about your target audience, the easier it is to sell to them and the product is eventually better as a result. This is a logical progression and is true in all areas of our lives. The better we understand a subject in class, the better we do on the test. The more we understand the changes in the environment, the better we can protect it. The more we know about other people, the more we can utilize this knowledge to cater to their needs and service them. This basic statement also applies to negative situations too. The better we understand something as evil or wrong, the better we can do to combat it. The “School House Rock” theme song was spot on, “knowledge is power.”

While there is no real replacement for first-hand experience, most of our understanding about certain topics is a result of extensive data collection. There are entire industries that are dedicated to this collection depending on the subject matter. Market research for consulting firms and companies,  analytic services for websites and the list goes on and on. Although slightly counter-intuitive, statisticians and other analyzers of data must be absolutely thrilled with the advent of social media. The quantity of information that is readily available from social media users is astounding. The ability to search various social media platforms and discover how many times a certain word or phrase is mentioned is compelling and changing the nature of statistics. There currently are over 800 million active Facebook users, which represents the largest sample size available for data collection on the planet. The methods of collecting the data are not traditional and thus are vulnerable to being wildly out of context, yet the sheer volume of data usually overwhelms any small discrepancies.

The ultimate implementation of the amazing statistical power of social media was manifested in our recent holiday. The infographic below provides a breakdown of the “mentions” of each of the various foods from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. While not exactly the most compelling use of the available statistic machines, it just goes to show the vast sea of information about people waiting to be analyzed. With all of this data at our fingertips, could social media effectively be the greatest invention to date for understanding the human condition? As well as the importance of sweet potatoes? 

Spongebob Popsicles eh?

Perception drives reality. This is one of my favorite quotes and is actually and old marketing slogan, but I find it to be full of truth. No matter the circumstances or context, the manner in which you interact with your environment and your thought process behind these actions is entirely predicated on your perspective. In my post least week I talked about how people generally make a decision based on a combination of what is best for themselves and what is best for others. This is still true, but the reason we don’t all act the same in similar situations is because we may have very different views of what is “best.” Now this is no revolutionary thought, it is all around us and present everyday in our lives. Our perspectives are molded by the knowledge that we have at our disposal and by the various elements that have influential power in your life, significant others, family, literature and media. This is what I call the lens of our lives. We view everything to occur through this lens which has been gradually evolving throughout our lives. One of the most important things is to be aware of this lens and the influencing factors and to evaluate them and understand that your perspective may not really be the absolute best.

Summer '11

My friends and I were discussing the other night about the possibility of corporate monopolies gaining power and ruling the U.S.A. Someone asked the question citing 3 major and powerful companies in the world today, Apple, Google and Facebook, and then asking whose side would we choose? Although it was an absurd question, I still had to deliberate and come up with a solid reason other than the fact that I like my iPod. I asked myself what do each of these companies control? Apple is clearly a leader in the physical goods department and manufacturing the actual tools for the technological world. But I ruled them out because although they make quality products, someone out there can always make tech. goods better and cheaper. Between Google and Facebook my decision was much more difficult. Facebook has access to data that is vital to understanding and classifying someone personally. Understanding what someone does, likes and perhaps why for both is priceless information. Google on the other hand is a directory for the entire internet. I equate their power with organizing all of the knowledge available on the web and therefore basically all of the knowledge, factual and opinionated, in existence. So which is a greater tool for controlling the world and having power, personal information or general knowledge? The question is much deeper than I will detail here and sparked an interesting discussion among my friends.

What also came up in this discussion was how we view the world because of our social networking and online habits. The concern was raised, if the CEO of Google decided that the algorithm to generate search results needed to be tweaked, he could influence our thought about nearly anything. I have my home page as Google on my computer because it is the nexus of the internet. With limitless information out there on the web, having the search function to organize and locate information is an absolute necessity. But what if the Google CEO decided one day that he wish the world was slightly more fond of popsicles? The algorithm could be altered to give more search weight to any article or picture referencing or displaying a popsicle. Perhaps one day you look up Spongebob Squarepants and the first five results are all of the Spongebob given to you from the ice cream man (clearly my choice every time he’s rolling around my neighborhood). This can be similarly applied to Twitter and may be the reason Greg is having so much trouble reaching the top tweets section. Maybe the Twitter CEO got bullied by a kid named Greg in 3rd grade and so when he created the website he slipped in a line of code giving Gregs all across Twitter a more difficult time reaching the top. 

Of course these are ridiculous examples, but it’s important to think about and question these possibilities from time to time. While I don’t think the Twitter founder would take out a personal vendetta on his users, there are clearly broader implications to this problem. As with traditional media outlets, we must be aware of a bias that can result when you let others organize your information. While I don’t envision the Republic of Facebook battling the U.S of Google anytime soon, the social media perspective is already ingrained in our psyche enough to warrant examination.

 

 

 

What’s best for me?

A common question we all asked ourselves at some point in our life. As unique individuals we all have varying priorities for nearly all situations and choices in life. This can be for things as trivial as what we eat for breakfast or for something as significant as discerning our true love. For situations such as these, there is no substitute for our own natural instinct. I am the type of person who handles problems and roadblocks with what I believe to be best. It is not that I do not heed the advice of others, but I always take it with a grain of salt. There are reasons that we all handle situations differently but in our own way, we always tend to do what is in our best interests. This does not necessarily mean that you always reap the benefits of your decisions, but just that you made the choice based on what you felt was best at the time.

Not the closest Galaxy, but Andromeda is nearby

One of the most compelling products of the internet is the ability to answer your most pressing questions. I do not have trivial arguments anymore about what year the Cubs last won the World Series (1908 ) nor am I left to wonder how close the nearest galaxy is to the Milky Way (25,000-40,000 light years away). Social media provides another avenue, by seeking advice and reviews from everyone using the internet. How often do you go out and buy something now without checking a review first? This phenomenon applies to both questions that can be answered with a fact but also to ones that answer pleas for advice or opinions. There are thousands of blogs out in the vastness of the web that are created so people can consult the expert or at least read their opinions on certain matters. It is possible to find these blogs for increasingly more obscure or specific niches. Check here for advice from the red worm expert or here to read a blog about how blogs are wasting your time. That last blog is pretty stupid so feel free to skip it, but I’m sure Bentley would enjoy some increased traffic for his worms blog so check it out.

I began this blogpost in the same manner that I usually begin, I see an article or think of something that I feel is worthwhile for me to give my opinion on that matter. Then I start writing, slightly unsure of the point I will be making in the end but slowly deciding as the post progresses. What spurred on my thought for this blog was an article I found in the NY times about student bloggers who work for the admissions departments at various universities. The article focused on an MIT undergrad’s blog and how she gained renown on campus and among prospective students for her thoughtful posts. The article asserts that prospective students rated it among the top 3 most informative methods for them to learn about the school. I was thinking back to my days in high school when I was looking at prospective schools to judge my interest and wondered if I would have read blogs about students attending those schools to see if I could see myself in their shoes. I realized that more than any admissions website, pamphlet or spiel from a guidance counselor this method of reading students blogs would give a real view into life on campus. I’m still not sure that this method works best for all areas of life though. If you read about something beforehand and make your judgment based on that, it is always possible that you’ll miss an opportunity that would have been stimulating for you that other people don’t appreciate.

There is a lot of high quality and extremely useful information, opinions and advice online and present in the blogosphere. Much of it is useful and some of it is trash. In the end, other people’s opinions only count for so much. But without a doubt, there is truth in experience.

 

Social Media: Fostering or Killing Creativity

Charlie bit my finger. A wedding party dancing up to the alter. The bed intruder. I’m sure many of you have seen these before when friends eagerly contended you NEED to see this video because it’s so funny. Most people can find some humor in one of these videos if not all and that humor has been confirmed based on the sheer number of views each of these videos have. It’s a new phenomenon with the advent of the internet that you can share almost any humorous picture, song, article or video that you can find. This is great because whenever you find something funny you can immediately share the wealth with friends or co-workers to spread some laughs. But isn’t it a bad feeling when you are excited to show someone something you found and they’ve already seen it?

This type of internet based humor is propagated by sites like Digg and Reddit where users post articles, videos and pictures and then can upvote or downvote posts to show their approval of the interest or humor. Sites like these find the best of the internet and streamline it for people based on their personal tastes and more often than not they generate quality content. My question is, do sites like this help or hurt our creativity? We no longer have to be clever to be funny, we just have to find a good website that does the work for us. The ability to share whatever you read or see with your friends takes much less creativity than something you create yourself. I noticed recently that an increasing amount of facebook posts between friends are them posting videos or pictures instead of providing something clever or worthwhile that they wrote themselves.

The Reddit Alien

My question is do these type of interactions hamper our creative process? The funny guy in the room doesn’t have to be someone who is witty or sharp but simply someone who has spent the most time on the internet scouring through the masses of content for the few gem videos. Now the argument can be made that reading articles and watching humorous videos will make you more creative by osmosis. If you think about funny things and see other types of humor than you will gradually understand the elements that make things funny and use those in everyday life. I don’t think there is really much merit to that, because if everyone watches the same viral videos and develops their sense of humor from that then it narrows  and limits the different types of humor.

The ability to share content with everyone on the internet with social media is both a blessing and a curse. We will see if the coming generation raised with social media in everyday life will fall into a narrow mold or break those barriers and propagate originality.

#UglyGirlsAreNotAllowed

Fortunately for me, the title of this post was not a John Riley original. Unfortunately for the world, it was a recent trending topic on Twitter in Boston. I clicked on the trend and read through the first few tweets before I had to exit out of pure annoyance/disgust/incredulity. The trending topic yielded several tweets from men making fun of ugly women, and then an equal amount of women chastising men and other women for calling people ugly. There were some really harsh ones that I will not share, but it astounded me that people would be that openly discriminatory and mean on such a public forum. I also began wondering why that of all things was a trending topic? And if it is trending, wouldn’t those people speaking out saying that it’s terribly judgmental be better off ignoring it so the trend disappears?

Since I am new to the Twitter game, I did some exploration into trending topics. I realized I have not thought much about the topics as I do not really care much about what the masses are talking about on Twitter. I have my few choice people that I follow and believe they will provide quality tweets. Mistakenly I thought that the topics were based on the volume of traffic for keywords and then were just periodically changed. The trends are in actuality based on the acceleration of topics and hashtags. If a topic has a constant velocity, meaning the number of tweets involving the keywords over a certain time period, then it will trend when it is beginning to gain traction and then after a period of time it is pushed into the background. This makes sense, otherwise Justin Bieber would be trending everyday and that feature would not be very interesting. It instead  focuses on the hot topics that a lot of people are including or retweeting.

Still so trendy

My next question was who thinks of these topics? What kind of bum was sitting at home thinking, Oh I think I’m going to start listing things that ugly girls shouldn’t do? A little research provided me with my most interesting discovery. 72% of the RT’s that occurred on the top 50 trending topics were from mainstream media outlets like NYtimes, CNN and ESPN. While we may believe that we are moving into a world of organic news and trending towards full user generated information, the big guys still are setting our trends.

 

“Good Enough to Tweet about…”

I was watching some Sports Center on ESPN last night before going to sleep and a commercial came on for the upcoming movie, The Big Year.

When the critics acclaim came on towards the end of the commercial my roommate and I both scoffed at one of the headline quotes. I could not find the exact commercial, so I do not know the author but it read, “this movie is something you’ll want to Tweet about.” Someone who is supposedly a movie expert wrote this in their movie review but what is more interesting is the fact that the studio thought this was worthy enough praise to put at the end of the commercial to get people excited to watch the movie. I understand that social media can be a powerful marketing tool, but this just seemed like an unnecessary and somewhat ignorant plug.

The first question that this statement brought to my mind was the fact that it’s not even praise. “Something to tweet about” is a broadly general statement because in essence, we can and (sometimes unfortunately) do tweet about basically anything. While this statement obviously was implying that people would see the movie, like it, and then tweet how good it was to their friends, the exact opposite could in fact be true. If people hate the movie they could just as easily go tweet that “The Big Year” is the worst movie of the year. It seems to me like the studio and author of the review both thought they would use a new hip buzz word to gain attention for the movie, even if it lends little substance to whether or not the movie is actually good.

I think the critic and studio both equated the fact that people will want to tweet about it with the old saying that a topic will be water cooler worthy chat. The difference here is subtle, yet makes a world of difference. Twitter has no filter. While a fair amount of people spare their followers from unnecessary and excessive tweeting, there is also a large contingent who does not hold back. I’m not going to give the stereotypical example of someone tweeting about what they had for breakfast, but it still surprises me to see what some people deem twitter worthy. Which brings the question to mind, what is twitter worthy? There can be no strict definition because everyone has a different personality and followers, but everyone has some idea in their mind of their personal tweeting guidelines. It will be interesting to see how the phrase “twitter worthy” changes over time as people adjust their styles of sharing on the site.

For now, all I learned from this expert movie critic who gets paid for his reviews is that the new upcoming movie is in fact, a thing.

A New Method for Mourning

As the outpourings of mourning and condolences are seen across Twitter and Facebook, it is evident to us all that Steve Jobs had a profound impact on many peoples lives. The immense tribute paid by millions of ordinary people shows that he impacted our lives in a technological sense and also as an image. Jobs, Gates and Zuckerberg are the only three CEO’s of companies that I would recognize if I saw them walking down a street. The Apple co-founder is a cultural icon representing innovation, vision and triumph through hard work. In President Barack Obama’s words, “there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” I myself had to confirm the information on my iPhone when I heard the news relayed by my friend. Like many others, I immediately expressed my admiration and sorrow at the loss of this great man through social media platforms. This morning I woke up to find #iSad and #thankyousteve both trending on Twitter. I have found several pictures of people mourning his loss outside his home and across the world.

The loss of such a great man highlights an important change in our culture. Death used to be a very private event for a family. Those close to the family would know of a loss through direct contact, but others would hear of the news much later through the grapevine. Friends and family would come to funerals and wakes, but mere acquaintances would never get a chance to express any sorrow or condolence. The advent of social media has revolutionized the landscape of the passing of life, for better and for worse.

Jobs Tribute

I will occasionally read the sad update on Facebook or Twitter of “rest in peace Grandpa, you were the best man I know” or something along those lines. This evokes a feeling of sorrow even if I do not know the person well or their lost family member. Jobs himself said when addressing recent Stanford graduates, “Death is the destination we all share, no one has ever escaped it.” At some point in our young lives we all will face and struggle with the loss of someone close. Expressing yourself to friends on a social media platform is a way to both cope with the loss and to let others know what you are going through. I do not see it as a cry for attention, but instead as the natural response to a major event in your life. While the information may be shared with many people who do not care or are not close enough to issue a response, the feeling of “getting it off your chest” is a powerful one.

There is no greater tragedy in my mind than a young person losing their life too soon. Although it is tragic, it does happen and peers are oftentimes left without closure or a chance to say goodbye. Facebook has added an outlet to the grieving process. I had a close friend who I knew since 1st grade pass away last year and I was 1000 miles away feeling completely out of touch. After speaking with other friends and his family, expressing and sharing our sorrows, I was left with little else I could do. I ventured onto Facebook and saw that hundreds of people had posted on his wall saying they will  miss him and that he had impacted their lives. I was surprised to find that many people began sharing stories about my friend and various adventures that featured him. I knew and was present for some of the stories and others were completely knew to me. I actually found joy and remembered laughing a bitter laugh reading about some of the times we shared. I distinctly remember the mother at the funeral sharing that after reading the stories about her son on Facebook it gave her some solace knowing he touched and impacted so many lives. Although some of these posts were superficial and were mere acquaintances saying RIP, there were some really meaningful words and emotions expressed on a public platform.I still find myself every once in awhile going back to check his profile and look at pictures of him to help keep his memory alive.

While perhaps it is a poor analogy, Facebook serves as an almost interactive graveyard. We all know that people will die and with over 800 million users, there will be a large portion over the coming years who have Facebook profiles. Although it may be somewhat superficial and to some people slightly creepy, it is a new avenue to help express grief and share both sorrows and stories to help keep the memory alive.I will be interested to see if 80 years down the line I will be able to visit my friends page and say, “still thinking about you, you’ve inspired me to live my life to the fullest and I will probably be joining you soon.” Because as Jobs so eloquently put it, “death is very likely the single best invention of life.”

RIP Steve Jobs; RIP Dayne

NATIONAL EMERGENCY….psyche

As a native Chicagoan I am frequently confronted by people in the city who are recently down on their luck and are trying to make some money to

Being creative never hurts

survive. I will often give some spare change to a haggard looking homeless man with a sign asking for food, but after spending a significant time in the city you realize it is impossible to help all those in need unless you are Mr. Moneybags. My strategy to discern who deserved my extra cash was to only help those people who seemed to be making an active effort to increase their current social position. I once saw a homeless man who would sit and fill out job applications on the street with a sign that asked for money, pens or more job opportunities. Another group I gave to was the men who would sell “Streetwise” magazine and a newly Chicago based publication called “The Onion.” They would actually give these away for a minimal donation and I saw they were working diligently to better themselves. As an added bonus, it turned out that The Onion was actually quite funny and poignant satire.

Fast forward a few years and I now follow The Onion on Twitter as it has grown to a national satirical publication. This morning I read my Twitter feed and saw @TheOnion “Congress Takes Group of Schoolchildren Hostage.” Ha ha, I didn’t think much of it because it is pretty over the top, even for them. I returned to Twitter a few hours later only to find that they have continually updated the hostage situation. I thought this strange because normally they will post an article and leave it alone, so I figured I would investigate. Despite my incredulity, I found that the reason they kept updating the situation with headlines of increasing improbability was because people were actually concerned. Police were called in to investigate the situation and were required to release a statement saying the conditions at the White House and Capitol Hill were normal. There has been a huge outcry on Twitter and by “real” news organizations that The Onion crossed the line with this joke. Some of this is warranted and some is not.

Why's it called the Onion?

I understand the fear that a headline like that may cause to someone on Capitol Hill. It’s a shame, but the state of humanity is such that heinous crimes and gunshots in the capitol are not unthinkable. But this is not The Onion’s fault that there was this type of reaction. They are a fake news site and this piece which satirized the failure of recent budget negotiations had almost exactly the desired effect. A headline that grabbed attention, followed by obvious humor that poked fun at a real life issue. The problems it caused are a direct result of the information flux we are presented with each day. Undoubtedly people who read the article or headline from the newspaper knew it was a joke or they would not be followers. But when friends shared the article with other people, they either simply read the headline without checking the publication, or have not heard of The Onion before. While the article itself is a satire of Congress, the uproar it caused and the subsequent tweets seem more like a satire of Twitter and those among us using it.

The misunderstanding can be attributed to a phenomenon called attribution decay, which is a problem with Twitter. Someone will re-tweet an article and then someone else will re-tweet this person. Just like in the game of telephone as the word spreads, the message changes and the original source can become lost in the muck. This is a real problem in the realm of social media as we begin to increasingly rely on our peers to relay important news. It will require diligence upon us as content sharers and consumers to decide what and whom are credible sources. Information overload can be both a blessing and a curse and the coming years will dictate the rise or fall of content sharing.

Life is Different

Human relationships have evolved constantly throughout our short history of existence. Familial relations, friendships and connections of love have all been subject to great changes that parallel the advances of mankind both technologically and culturally. The gradual progression of freedoms afforded to people has also had a great impact on human interactions and the manner in which they take place. Although this evolution never halted, it appeared to be somewhat stagnant before the greatest mechanism for relationship change came along, the internet.

True enough

One of the great positives that the internet is the ability for people to rally around a cause and for other people to be more understanding and knowledgeable about that cause. Despite a few practices that seemed to have phased out over the years, (polygamy) the establishment of marriage has been one of the most rock-steady relationships among mankind. Despite thousands of years of consistency, the marriage landscape is now changing. There is no doubt in my mind that the advent of the internet has aided the acceptance and inclusion of gay marriage, especially among people in the United States. In the past decade the general acceptance of the practice has changed dramatically, both in terms of general perception and understanding and the legal aspect. Despite these monumental changes, social media also changed practical relationships and regular friendships. The possibility of connecting with long lost friends, staying in touch with long distance friends, meeting people from any corner of the globe or even just maintaining contact with a potential love interest that you met at the bar the night before provides meaningful change to every relationship.

Love at first creep

Were these changes intentional with the creation of the social media giants? Facebook was originally meant to be a platform for meeting other college students and enhance the dating process. It did not succeed with this venture, but that is perhaps not because it failed to recognize the important features of romantic relations but rather fundamentally altered the features of romantic relations. Although the rise of the “hook-up” culture did not begin with Facebook, it was advanced a great deal because the platform it provides lends itself to that type of relationship. Instead of contacting a potential love interest and chatting with them about what they life, i.e. music, books, sports, people instead spend their time “creeping” on photos of the individual. While there is something to be said for the insight this provides into a person’s life, at the core it is a very vain and shallow measure of a person. Vain and shallow relationships online will lead to vain and shallow interactions in real life. Online dating sites have succeeded where sites like Friendster and Facebook have failed in the dating realm because they focus less on the appearance of the person and more on the attributes that are necessary to foster a meaningful and lasting relationship. Facebook has been an incubator for the current teen and young adult dating scene, and as the nature of social media continues to change it will be interesting to see how this effects the already altered relationship sphere.

Evolution may not be the best phrase to use because of the connotation of enhancement and progress. Granted, there are numerous positives that have been generated in the realm of human interaction because of the internet. Overall it has revolutionized the way people interact in a manner unparalleled in the history of the world. The question still remains whether in the future we will look back upon these times and note a positive influence on the nature of relationships.