Many aspects of our screen-bound lives are bad for our social skills simply because we get accustomed to controlling the information that comes in, managing our relationships electronically, deleting stuff that doesn't interest us. We edit the world; we select from menus; we pick and choose; our social 'group' focuses on us and disintegrates without us. This makes it rather confusing for us when we step outdoors and discover that other people's behaviour can't be deleted with a simple one-stroke command or dragged to the trash icon.
Lynne Truss, in her book "Talk to the Hand," underscores the negative impact of our digital lives on social skills. As we navigate relationships through screens, we become accustomed to curating our interactions and managing our information flow. This selective engagement creates a bubble where we focus on our preferences and interests, leading to a distorted understanding of social dynamics in the real world.
When we step away from our devices,...
