In her annual Christmas address, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands expressed concern about increasing individualisation and a decline in neighbourliness. People increasingly communicate via short, quick messages, society is becoming more individualistic, and personal freedom has become detached from social unity. But without the "we feeling" our lives become empty, according to the queen. Virtual encounters cannot fill this hole, and could even increase the feeling of distance. The ideal of a free individual has peaked, and we need to find a way back to what brings us together.
There are enough stories about teenagers spending hours in front of the computer to justify the concern about these developments. Still, it's very much open for debate whether changes as a result of SMS, Twitter and Facebook (to which the Queen is clearly referring) are so worrisome - and if they are irreversible.
To start with, does the computer reduce our time spent together socially? It seems more likely that it's time spent watching TV that suffers from the new communication possibilities. And in this case, the computer is preferable to the TV, as internet implies activity and communication, compared to the passivity of watching TV.
More fundamental is the question whether overall social cohesion suffers from the rise of new technology (whether it's internet, mobile phones or TV). Only dedicated research can prove this. A similar question is whether illegal downloads are really bad for legal music sales (various research suggests the opposite), and it can't be ruled out that meetings in cyberspace stimulate encounters in meatspace. For the moment, we can see that the new opportunities do bring people closer together in various ways. Parents with children abroad can communicate via Skype, protesters in Iran organise over Twitter, dating sites create new romantic relationships, people find jobs over LinkedIn, Facebook keeps old student friends in touch, wherever they are in the world, MySpace supports music fan communities, the SMS Amber Alert helps police work with the local community to find missing children, and politicians, led by Obama, make use of the new media to get their ideas to a mass public.
In conclusion, it's questionable whether neighbourliness suffers from the new technologies. Perhaps it's only time to define the term more broadly. If we really do have less contact with our neighbours (and that is still a question), in it's place has come a greater connection among soulmates around the world. Maybe we feel less connection with our neighbours, but thanks to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the bond with our self-chosen friends has only grown stronger. And the expectation is that telemedicine, thanks to the further roll-out of fibre communication networks, will help the elderly and infirmed stay living in their own homes. The beauty of it is that it no longer maters where you live. This helps all these services elimnate borders. Instead of opposing these new technologies, it's better to embrace them and use them for good to create a better world.
