Vanitas, by Peter ClaeszWhile I usually shun the moralistic, self-righteous voices of religion, especially Catholic ones, I couldn't agree more with the preachers on this one. Spot on. Call me old square, stick-in-the-mud, whatever, but I'm with the Archbishop: there's nothing like an old-fashioned rendezvous and the hardships and ups & downs of genuine friendship.
(By the way, and in reply to a recent invitation to become Facebook "friends" with a so-so-friend: I would never, but never accept an invitation to become virtual "friends" with someone who doesn't have time for a lunch or a coffee, nor even for, say, a miserable three-line how-are-you-doing e-mail, but who wastes hours & days narcissistically compiling meaningless lists of "friends." Capisce?)
Sic transit gloria mundi...
Facebook criticised by Archbishop
Social networking websites, texting and e-mails are undermining community life, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols said MySpace and Facebook led young people to seek "transient" friendships, with quantity becoming more important than quality.
He said a key factor in suicide among young people was the trauma caused when such loose relationships collapsed.
"Friendship is not a commodity," he told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
He added: "Friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right".
'Transient relationships'
Archbishop Nichols said society was losing some of its ability to build communities through inter-personal communication, as the result of excessive use of texts and e-mails rather than face-to-face meetings or telephone conversations.
He said skills such as reading a person's mood and body language were in decline, and that exclusive use of electronic information had a "dehumanising" effect on community life.
Archbishop Nichols said that social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace encouraged a form of communication that was not in his words "rounded", and would not therefore build rounded communities.
The Archbishop also warned of the danger of suicide among young people who threw themselves into a network of friendships that could easily collapse.
He said young people were being encouraged to build up collections of friends as commodities, and were left desolate when these transient relationships broke down.
"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I'm wary about it," he told the newspaper.
"Among young people often a key factor in their 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.
"It's an all-or-nothing syndrome that you have to have in an attempt to shore up an identity; a collection of friends about whom you can talk and even boast."
Source: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8180115.stm
2 comments:
Quem não está na rede é como se não existisse. Os egos frágeis da modernidade tardia em que vivemos implicam um contínuo investimento narcísico num self cada vez mais fragmentado. Penso que é isso que explica o grande sucesso das redes sociais.
Tenho uma enorme dificuldade em perceber a razão pela qual um conjunto de pessoas que considero minimamente sensatas e equilibradas me pergunta a razão pela qual eu não tenho uma conta no Facebook ou no MySpace.
Não podia concordar mais com o arcebispo Vincent Nichols e contigo.
O que mais me aborrece no meio disto tudo é que mesmo as pessoas "minimamente sensatas e equilibradas" parecem perder todo o bom senso quando começam a funcionar nessas redes sociais.
Admito que os sites de social networking possam desempenhar um papel útil ao permitirem-nos, por ex., manter o contacto com amigos ou colegas geograficamente distantes. Mas trata-se sempre de uma função suplementar ou complementar. O que já me custa aceitar - e assusta, na verdade - é que as pessoas procedam como se essas redes pudessem substituir o contacto pessoal, face a face, ou a troca de correspondência personalizada.
Nada me irrita mais do que receber um "convite" impessoal para fazer parte dos "amigos" de x ou de y, quando esse x ou esse y estão-se borrifando para mim no dia-a-dia ou não respondem atempadamente a cartas ou a emails. Parece que estas novas formas de contacto social estão a tornar-se incompatíveis com as regras mais básicas da boa educação!
Post a Comment