In 1960, the world's population was three billion. This means that the city streets were mostly quiet, and passers-by enjoyed the beauty and architectural genius of the architects of the past. Today our planet is home to 7.7 billion people. The central streets of many cities now look like metro stations during rush hour - for example, Rambla in Barcelona or Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. However, the most interesting thing is that most of the passers-by are not looking at the facades of historical buildings and architectural ensembles. Their gaze is directed to the small black mirrors of the instruments they hold in their hands. It doesn't take a genius to understand that society has changed with the advancement of technology and the advent of the internet. But how?
What makes people happy?
One of the most exciting scientific studies of human happiness has been going on for 80 years. You may have even heard of him. The famous Harvard Study of Adult Development dates back to 1938, when, during the Great Depression, researchers wanted to find out what factors contribute to a long and happy life. 268 Harvard sophomores were selected as subjects, but over time the control groups expanded to include 456 Boston residents in the 1970s. 40 of them are still alive, today they are over 90 years old. Only 10 years ago, scientists included the wives of the subjects in the study.
For decades, researchers have studied subjects' health and monitored changes in their lives, including triumphs and failures in their careers and personal lives. The most interesting fact is that until now every two years scientists call the subjects and ask how they are doing, writing down the answers. For 80 years, the authors of the study have also changed, taking over the work from their predecessors. The results obtained by the scientists were amazing. Research has shown that intimacy, more than money or fame, makes people happy throughout their lives. These connections protect against life's troubles, help maintain mental and physical health, and are better predictors of a long and happy life than social status, IQ, or even genes. This conclusion turned out to be true in all areas,both among Harvard students and among workers from Boston.
It turns out that for happiness, people need other people and deep, sincere relationships with them. And if in the past communication between people took place live, today we are less likely to leave the house, and when meeting with friends we sometimes pay more attention to our smartphones. It is logical to assume that communication between people has changed a lot over the past decades. But how will these changes affect our lives and happiness? Most likely, we will not receive an answer to this question soon. Only recently, scientists from Harvard embarked on a second large-scale study - now they will observe the lives of the children of the first two groups of subjects. Thus, we will learn the preliminary results no earlier than 15-20 years later, so today we can only assume how technologies have changed the world and ourselves.
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Dunbar's number
The number of permanent connections that a person can maintain throughout life is 150. This is the conclusion reached by the British anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist and expert in the field of primate behavior Robin Dunbar. According to the results of the study, all gregarious primates, including Homo sapiens, are characterized by complex social behavior. Primates actively interact with group members, usually through grooming. The anthropologist drew attention to the relationship between the level of development of the neocortex (neocortex) - in humans, this area is responsible for sensory perception, conscious thinking, motor functions and speech - and the size of the flock in primates. Taking as a basis data on 38 species of primates, he deduced a mathematical relationship between the development of the neocortex and the size of the flock, and,based on the assessment of the development of the human brain, he proposed an estimate of the optimal size of the human herd.
Dunbar returned to anthropology to correlate his findings for Homo Sapiens communities. The researcher found out that the number of people in rural traditional settlements fluctuates within the limits suggested by him - up to two hundred people. In his work, the scientist suggested that the number of neurocortical neurons - electrically excitable brain cells that process, store and transmit information using electrical and chemical signals - limits the body's ability to process information, which, in turn, limits the number of relationships that a person can simultaneously support. When the group size exceeds this number, it becomes difficult for the individual to maintain the number of contacts.
And indeed - if you ask the representatives of the older generation how they met, talked and learned any news, they will answer that they met at the holidays with friends, went for walks together, said goodbye to each other, meaning the next meeting, and when the hostess wanted to cook an unusual dish, then she asked her friends for the recipe. And the number of these acquaintances on average did not exceed 150 people. All of the above examples indicate that in the past, people interacted with each other much more often. They had to personally communicate both with a familiar circle of people and meet new people, which, undoubtedly, perfectly developed their social skills. It is possible that it was this experience of our parents and grandmothers that affected the mutual understanding of generations - today, communication of young people is increasingly happening online,and this applies to both friendly and love relationships.
Today, the ability to get all the necessary information at any time by simply googling it has significantly reduced the need for live communication between people. Why call acquaintances or meet a friend who has the information you need when you have the Internet? Gradually, this led to the fact that people began to communicate less live and more and more online. Thus, it is more difficult for modern adolescents to get to know strangers and socialize in general than for representatives of previous generations.
Dopamine networks and true friends
Social networks and the profiles that we create in them play a huge role in the modern world. Some psychologists call pages on social networks creating an improved version of oneself, since each person strives to make a good impression on others and often provides false information about himself. It turns out that communication itself has changed today, it has become more superficial. There was also a certain disunity of interests - if in the past the whole country watched “The meeting place cannot be changed” and common topics for conversation could be found with almost everyone, today the picture is completely different. The emergence of the Internet and streaming services such as Netflix, on the one hand, gave us imaginary freedom of choice, and on the other hand, made it more difficult to meet a person with similar interests in real life.
Instagram has begun testing * opt-out * in some regions of the US. According to the new company policy, likes will be available only to the author of publications, but not to his subscribers.
Moreover, based on Dunbar's work, it can be falsely concluded that the number of friends on social networks should not exceed 150 people. But in fact, we add a large number of people as friends, and half of them have never met or will not see each other at all. The numbers in the friends tab today are a source of dopamine, but not real happiness.
According to recent research, a person is able to maintain only five truly close contacts throughout their life. That is why the first five people are highlighted on your social media feed. But with the rest of the conventional 145 friends, communication is a bit strange - about once a year or six months we congratulate each other with messages, for example, “happy birthday”, as if letting another person know that we remember his existence. But such “zombing” on social networks cannot be called full-fledged communication. It turns out that our ancestors communicated with each other much more, more often and more productively than us, and this communication was often a key factor in their life well-being.
I will note that the Internet and the information age not only enriched the Russian language with the latest borrowings, but also changed etiquette. So, in the modern world, the ability to put off your smartphone in time and not take too many photos in the presence of others is very much appreciated.
The series "Black Mirror" is no longer a series
Social science fiction fans have probably watched at least one episode of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror. The first episode of the third season talked about how likes on social networks affect social status and determine position in society. And if the relationship between people in the world shown in this episode looks like an exaggeration, then the reality actually did not go so far - a taxi driver today can really lose his job if a client gives him only one star out of five a couple of times. And the way almost all interactions between people in modern China take place seems to make one think: “Is this not the world of the“black mirror”?
Frame from the TV series * Black Mirror * (3 season 1 episode).
Of course, the advent of the Internet and modern technology has changed more than just friendships and relationships. Today, the internet influences almost every aspect of our lifestyle, from basic needs to the most luxurious things. And as we move into the future, it is logical to assume that dependence on the Internet and its role in our lives will only increase. The modern world erases borders, resembling a global city that exists thanks to the Internet. Indeed, despite the fact that communication today is more and more superficial, we can now communicate with anyone, anytime, anywhere. The Internet has become a kind of guide to all information and inquiries about beauty, health, fashion, lifestyle, personal care and more. Moreover, we can not only work without leaving home,but also get an education sitting in your comfortable armchair. The Internet has become a huge platform for the free exchange of knowledge. Yes, we rarely see each other's faces, but we have Wikipedia.
As I finish this article, I cannot help but note that along with the endless possibilities that have appeared thanks to the Internet, there are no less reasons for concern. Our society is rapidly transforming and the “okay boomer” meme, which has recently swept over the world social networks, is a vivid example of this. The generation of baby boomers - people who were born between 1943 and 1963 - don't really understand millennials, much less Gen Z. The fact is that the social environment in which boomers grew up was completely different from the environment that surrounds modern children and adolescents - and they, among other things, are surrounded by the screens of smartphones, tablets, TVs and endless streams of information.
Cast of the series * Friends * almost in full force. The inscription at the top - * boomers *.
The changes concern worldviews and even jokes. What was considered funny 20 years ago and what was joked about in the TV series "Friends" today is causing the outrage of young people. The values that the boomer generation conveyed are becoming obsolete at an incredible rate, which only heightens misunderstandings between people. But no less dangerous I see the inability and sometimes unwillingness of netizens to verify information.
No matter how our society has changed with the development of technology and the advent of the Internet, we still remain people, with our inherent errors of thinking, the need for communication and closeness with others. Perhaps the best thing each of us can do today is to stop for a moment and think about which direction and where we are going.
Author: Lyubov Sokovikova