Andrew Boles
Anth 101
Prof. San Andres
3/3/2018
Technology The Death Of Social Interaction
Earlier this week I decided to Take a few train rides going from Journal Square Train
station to Newark Penn Station as well as a couple to New York. What I saw on the train had me
thinking about the effects of technology and social media on society. Social media can have a
negative impact on humans as social creatures if used to replace social interaction rather than
enhance it, provoking a false senses of connection, psychological changes to how people
approach relationships, and negative emotional responses to these types of communications.
On the train I saw people either on their devices looking down, with earbuds listening to
something, on laptops or just plain looking out the window. The train was possibly at the fullest
it could be leaving people barely one foot apart yet the only people talking were the ones talking
on their phone. Even when the train was going through a tunnel when signal was awful people
just did not care to speak to one another, rather they just started fiddling with their hands or
jackets or even just staring into outer space. On the rare occasion that I did find people
communicating I left my seat and asked them if they knew each other prior to being on the train.
The answer was yes 100% of the time.
What I observed wasn’t enough information I had to know more. I started a conversation
with someone next to me, after exchanging pleasantries I asked her how many times does she
ride the train and how often does she talk to people on the train or even witness others talking to
each other on the train. She had many things to say she was a regular passenger of the train as it
was her main source of transportation going to and f...
