The use of the word "disconnected" in this article is fickle. Either that or the author doesn't understand what Facebook means by "connected". Facebook states on it's login page that it "helps you connect and share with the people in your life." " There is no mention of it ensuring the fluidity between the events of your life.

Hi Anonymous,
I apologize for the confusion in terms. Short posts make it difficult to ensure that terms are defined well. I do understand that the inventors of/programmers for Facebook believe that the tool helps users connect and share with people. I don't understand your reference to "fluidity." My point in this brief commentary was that in staying connected with others through these tools like Facebook, but even more so with Twitter, we actually end up more disconnected from everything else going on in our lives as we're constantly interrupting the flow of events in our lives to text message, twitter, update, etc. That's the whole point of my focus on desultory behavior.

Fickle means "not constant, changeable." I'm not sure how my use of disconnected was changing in my posting, but I hope my reply clarifies what I meant.

In the end, my most pointed comment on computer-mediated social life is that what Facebook and Twitter offer us is not what ends up happening. We intend to connect to others and we get disconnected from ourselves and even others around us in a flurry of desultory behavior. Oh, there's that fickle us of disconnected, I'll bet ;-)
cheers,
tim

I think you have a really good point here with regard to the nature of internet-based interaction as being rather superficial, an incoherent mumble-jumble of half-formed ideas and sentiments. I've always liked the metaphor of a "train of thought" which could occasionally be "derailed" by tangents, but this is more like a giant amorphous sphere of thought that just rolls randomly around the terrain on no fixed path whatsoever.

I think your point might be even more clear if you were to describe the resultant desultory behaviour outside the social domain as well. Perhaps online communication makes life difficult in other domains, even those related to procrastination like task persistence. When one is accustomed to having their mind wander freely and unobstructed, it can be difficult to reign it in and persist in a task that takes a great deal of concentration or a long period of time. They would have a much shorter attention span.

On the other hand, it could encourage more creative problem-solving and better brainstorming of ideas. So perhaps some healthy moderation in the amount of time spent for online communication would be in order.

I hear what you're saying. But as someone who uses, studies, writes about and consults about Twitter, facebook, social media, etc., I don't find my behavior with these apps to upset my real life social life. The actual in-person meetups that are constantly happening actually support a very real social life.

The plain fact is that to keep up with my real life friends, I must rely on intermittent communication. Our lives are just too busy. No parent of young children has time for a long phone conversation or even a detailed e-mail!

I have a dedicated group in Facebook to keep up with old friends that I consider myself related to. Guess what? They rarely update. But, when they do, I can write a quick response and we feel like we are keeping touch with each other. We probably rely on it a bit too much, sure, but without it we'd just grow apart because of physical separation; that would be a bad outcome.

What do you think?

-Christine Cavalier

Well, thanks for asking Christine.

Your second paragraph is worth lots of discussion. You write, "Our lives are just too busy." The thing is, I wonder "busy with what?" Is there a chicken and egg type thing here where our online lives (dare I say our "second lives") keep us too busy that we don't have time for a "long phone conversation or even a detailed email"? I think this is worth some analysis. I too am a father of very young children. I'm incredibly busy, but this doesn't necessitate text messaging. In fact, text messaging can take me away from my children if I use it too much - and that's the real point here about any of this technology.

As I said to Alex, I wouldn't advocate giving up social-networking tools, we just need to choose those that serve us well and tools that we can really control. I see a great deal of loss of control and desultory behavior, hence my post.

I used the example of how "greed" has been identified as a problem with the recent economic crisis. Certainly the desire to earn more is not, in itself, a problem, but greed is the "excessive desire." I think many of these social networking tools lead to excessive, even compulsive use. It is this type of use that we need to be concerned about as individuals and as a society.

Thanks for posting your thoughts, particularly given your own research and consulting.
tim

Please learn the difference between "reign" and "rein". Yes, I expect perfect spelling from someone who gets PAID to write online.

This may help: http://www.beginningwithi.com/comments/2007/02/10/when-a-spell-checker-w...

Hi Deirdré,
Thanks for pointing that out. I hate making mistakes like that. As a horse rider, I certainly know the difference between the words. I guess I reign supreme in terms of spelling mistakes! ;-)
tim

I see nothing new in your comments about social media. The same laments were made, in their turn and with slight variations, about television, role-playing games, email, the Web, cell phones, texting, and video games. Yes, all of these can be overused. Just about any activity can be used to avoid engagement with more challenging "real world" activities. Even participating in "healthy" activities like sports and academics can be used to avoid other aspects of life. Any behaviour can be addictive, and any behaviour can interfere with a balanced life.

Avid participation in "craze" activities is not necessarily disruptive to other day-to-day activities, nor desultory. Some people do indeed interrupt what they're doing during the day to check their email, social media feeds, text messages, etc. People also interrupt what they're doing to check the news or stock reports. Others place these activities in perspective, participating in them at reasonable intervals and enjoying them without sacrificing the value or the continuity of the rest of their lives.

Although I agree that the social and cultural effects of modern technology and of the rapid changes in communication that have appeared in recent decades are important topics for discourse, I don't see your comments as contributing to this discussion. They are, in fact, rather desultory.

Hi Carrie,
I disagree that Twitter or other text messaging are similar to other social media. If text messaging of this sort can be compared to another technology, it would have to be the phone and cell phones in particular, but even here the comparison breaks down because people use the phone and phone calls much differently than text messaging with the short (140 characters in the case of Twitter) bursts of messages.

To be clear, I'm not arguing that people avoid engagement in life using these tools. They just "take a minute" to do another text and end up spending a great deal of the day in desultory behavior (that without this technology, they would not be doing). I do agree that any behavior can be addictive, but some are certainly more prone for this (e.g., "Crackberries", gaming, text messaging). I don't see why you would want to lump all social media into the same group.

What makes these technologies potentially so problematic, and I see these problems on campus everyday, is how disruptive they are to any ongoing activity. You're correct, many people do put this into "perspective," but it is a problem for many other people.

The ironic thing is, Carrie, I'll bet that I've been using technology longer than you might imagine (I'm an early adopter who has been invited to speak about technology all over the country), and various technologies are integrated into my life, both personal and work, so I'm not in the group that "laments" new technologies as part of a "changing world." I simply see a difference in some types of technologies than others for their potential to become problematic (like video lottery terminals).

I appreciate your comments, but I must say I don't understand how my post could be described as "desultory."
tim

Hi Dr. Pychyl,

I really enjoyed the article because it provides an interesting point of view about the potential long-term effects of social networks such as facebook and twitter. I've always been a bit of a latecomer to these sites and eventually closed them because they became a nuisance to my studies. As an ADDer, I'm more aware than most of the problems with desultory behaviour because the first 18 years of my life consisted of constant task switching every 15 minutes. However, beware the sound of one hand clapping; it makes sense that deeper issues result from the use of social networking for the reasons you mentioned, but there are also deeper benefits which are beyond the superficial and apparent benefits of networking that are typically proposed.

For an individual who learns to make practical use of desultory behaviour, it becomes one of the most powerful tools for the mind; the accumulation of a vast diversity of information made possible by desultory behaviour becomes a chaos of small bits of information, and having access to such a wide variety of information allows a person to intuitively grasp the broader perspectives that usually require an expensive amount of time to attain. In this sense, I think desultory behaviour, matched with the access to information provided by the internet, can be a useful lifestyle.

Desultory behaviour does not replace the tedious labour that is absolutely necessary for a person to confidently understand what they are observing, what it does is create the opportunity to expand minds and force people to look at broader point of view. Like everything else, desultory behaviour can be good or bad depending on how an individual uses it.

The thing is, I wonder "busy with what?" Is there a chicken and egg type thing here where our online lives keep us too busy that we don't have time for a "long phone conversation or even a detailed email"? I think this is worth some analysis. I too am a father of very young children. I'm incredibly busy, but this doesn't necessitate text messaging. In fact, text messaging can take me away from my children if I use it too much - and that's the real point here about any of this technology.

While your points on desultory behavior are true, there's another side to this coin.

Personally and professionally Twitter has connected me to dozens of people who have contributed to my life and I've contributed to theirs. Many of them I've met in person after connecting online and have become great friends and business associates with them.

Some, like Guy Kawasaki (Former Apple Chief Evangelist, Entrepreneur Magazine columnist) and Craig Newmark (Craig of Craig's List), are people I would never have had access to without social media. In both cases we had conversations deeper than if I had met them as they existed a stage at some event, which is the only other way I would have met them.

The amount of minimal time I use social media sites versus the amount of information and value I receive (Twitter gives me news before any other source) is far greater than if I spent that 10 minutes watching CNN. And then I'm back to my 'in real life' relationships and conversations. It's a myth that social media is taking us away from real life quality. Like any tool, it's all in how you use it.

I invite readers of this article to find a friend getting value from these technologies, beyond entertainment, and have them show you what they're doing. This technology is revolutionary. It's connecting people and creating community, companies and cultures in ways that traditional networking could never produce.

Hi Brett,
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I agree, there is another side of the coin, and it's obvious that your experience clearly landed with that side of the coin up. The thing is, this is not a "fair coin." That is, I certainly wouldn't want to take a bet based on it. I think very few people exercise the same self-discipline that you report with a "minimal time" spent using social media.

I certainly agree that social media makes connections with others; connections that may not be possible in any other way. I've being using Internet-mediated social media for over 20 years (early versions were email and newsgroups), and I have spoken widely on their importance in education for example, and I continue to use all forms of these media.

All this said, the vast majority of people seem to fall prey to a "darker" side of this technology use, and that was the focus of my blog posting.

In the end, we agree that the trick is to learn how to use these tools effectively, so that we control them, not the tools controlling us (and there is a great deal of research documenting the problems with these tools and addictive/compulsive behaviors).

Yes, these technologies have been revolutionary. However, as you said, the coin has two sides. I spoke to one of the sides. A side that I fear is weighted to win too often.

cheers,
tim