The omnipresence of networks is profoundly transforming social ecology. Everyone can now connect to public communities that are quick to react and make uninhibited comments. Social judgment, multiplied tenfold via these networks, is becoming a major factor in conformity, especially among young people. Schools have a balancing role to play here.
Emil Cioran wrote, "I have known all forms of decay, including success"; some understand early on the ransom of popularity, whose wave is capable of carrying its object far from its initial intention, and is also capable of making it lose its integrity, just as it can propel it towards its wildest dreams, especially for those who know how to surf. For some, the network becomes the equivalent of a hard drug.
At the same time, new social behaviors are developing among those who are not satisfied with virtual socializing - in other words, the majority of the population, even if some are more or less aware of the technological source of their malaise. The integration of differences makes an environment more resilient and tolerant to a wider range of factors, something that filtering algorithms have yet to fully grasp.
The social reality in schools and universities is changing, even the celebrations held there are different. Connected to networks by the senses, the mind and the heart, we have less space left for contact without intermediaries. Social ubiquity comes with a price: online friendships don't share space... or time (or very little) and even less matter. The close ones, the imperfect ones who must be tolerated, all are marginalized if they don't fall into the good graces of a commercial algorithm. Even nature is feeling the pinch; as spectators, we are less and less connected to it. Can we do otherwise?
Surely.
Denys Lamontagne - [email protected]
Illustration: Clker-Free-Vector-Images - Pixabay
