Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Art of Thinking
The Art of Thinking
THERAPEUTIC AGE
Felicia Wu Song
/~k m i d s t all the e x c i t e m e n t a n d s p e c u l a t i o n over c o m m u n i t i e s . As such, m a n y p e r c e i v e t h e v i r t u a l
/ ]kthe Internet, hopes have been staked on c o m m u n i t y as a n e w form of s o c i a b i l i t y t h a t es-
t e c h n o l o g y ' s c a p a c i t y to revitalize civic a n d com- s e n t i a l l y o p e r a t e s as any p r e v i o u s c o m m u n i t y has
m u n i t y life i n A m e r i c a . T h e p r o l i f e r a t i o n of on-line in t h e past. In light of t h e fact t h a t m a n y Ameri-
( o r " v i r t u a l " ) c o m m u n i t i e s , in p a r t i c u l a r , has b e e n c a n s a l r e a d y m a i n t a i n t h e i r p r i m a r y s o c i a l ties
r e g a r d e d as a p o s s i b l e c o u n t e r b a l a n c e to t h e t h r o u g h n o n - l o c a l social n e t w o r k s , v i r t u a l c o m -
t r e n d s of d e c l i n i n g s o c i a l c a p i t a l o b s e r v e d b y m u n i t i e s m a y a c t u a l l y i m p r o v e p e o p l e ' s a b i l i t y to
R o b e r t P u t n a m in his book,BowlingAlone.While c o m m u n i c a t e a n d p a r t i c i p a t e in each o t h e r ' s lives,
P u t n a m may have aptly n o t e d a s i g n i f i c a n t cul- g i v i n g i n d i v i d u a l s t h e m e a n s to c o m b a t t h e atom-
tural c h a n g e in the d e c r e a s i n g m e m b e r s h i p of izing t e n d e n c i e s of c o n t e m p o r a r y A m e r i c a ' s eco-
local a s s o c i a t i o n s , m a n y s c h o l a r s s u g g e s t that t h e n o m i c , c u l t u r a l a n d social realities.
m a i n l e s s o n to l e a r n from P u t n a m ' s w o r k is sim- T h e r e are, h o w e v e r , g o o d r e a s o n s to q u e s t i o n
p l y that it is time to l o c a t e civic d u t y a n d social w h e t h e r v i r t u a l c o m m u n i t i e s can f u n c t i o n as a
c o n n e c t i v i t y in n e w i n s t i t u t i o n s . As F r a n c i s viable a l t e r n a t i v e to c o m m u n i t i e s of p l a c e a n d
F u k u y a m a c o m m e n t e d : " F o r e v e r y b r i d g e c l u b or civic a s s o c i a t i o n s . W h i l e t h e I n t e r n e t is still in a
Masonic t e m p l e that has folded, t h e r e are c o u n t - stage of r e l a t i v e infancy, several f e a t u r e s of vir-
less AIDS a d v o c a c y g r o u p s or U s e n e t d i s c u s s i o n tual c o m m u n i t i e s s t r o n g l y suggest t h a t it is un-
g r o u p s to take t h e i r p l a c e .... The I n t e r n e t by it- likely for t h e s e c o m m u n i t i e s to cultivate t h e t y p e s
self clearly c o n s t i t u t e s a m a j o r r e v o l u t i o n in many- of social b o n d s a n d a s s o c i a t e d n o r m s of r e c i p r o c -
to-many communications, one that by itself could ity o f t e n u n d e r s t o o d to b e t h e b u i l d i n g b l o c k s o f
easily o v e r w h e l m all t h e o t h e r d o w n w a r d t r e n d s a s t a b l e a n d v i b r a n t d e m o c r a c y . B e c a u s e of the
c i t e d in Bowling Alone." p a r t i c u l a r w a y s that c o m p u t e r t e c h n o l o g y medi-
F u k u y a m a has n o t b e e n alone in his o p t i m i s m . ates t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n an i n d i v i d u a l a n d a
While many scholars and technologists recognize c o m m u n i t y , t h e I n t e r n e t may lead to an i n c r e a s e
the i m p o r t a n t d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n face-to-face in t h e quantity of social c o n n e c t e d n e s s , b u t t h e
and on-line c o m m u n i t i e s , t h e y n e v e r t h e l e s s main- quality of that c o n n e c t e d n e s s will be v e r y differ-
tain that on-line g r o u p s are g e n u i n e c o m m u n i t i e s , ent from that which Putnam and Alexis de
and thus valid s u b s t i t u t e s for t h e local c o m m u n i - T o c q u e v i l l e r e s t e d t h e i r d e m o c r a t i c h o p e s . Put
ties n o w in decline. Several key c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s are a n o t h e r way, w h i l e virtual c o m m u n i t i e s may b o o s t
c o m m o n l y n o t e d as e v i d e n c e that v i r t u a l c o m m u - the n u m b e r o f s o c i a l n e t w o r k s , t h e y are n o t con-
n i t i e s are i n d e e d "communities." For e x a m p l e , in d u c i v e to f o s t e r i n g t h e n o r m s of m u t u a l obliga-
his b o o k The Virtual Community, H o w a r d t i o n n e e d e d for a c h i e v i n g c o m m u n a l ends.
R h e i n g o l d gives a c o m p e l l i n g a c c o u n t of h o w I n s t e a d , t h e t y p e of s o c i a l c o n n e c t e d n e s s t h a t
c o m p u t e r - m e d i a t e d c o m m u n i c a t i o n o f t e n sup- virtual c o m m u n i t i e s m a y t e n d to c u l t i v a t e b e a r s
p o r t s e a r n e s t , i n t i m a t e and affective ties b e t w e e n a g r e a t e r s i m i l a r i t y to Philip Rieff's v i s i o n of t h e
p e o p l e . O t h e r s claim that on-line c o m m u n i t i e s can t h e r a p e u t i c c u l t u r e - - t h a t is, t h e y t e n d to e n h a n c e
be as effective as t h e i r off-line c o u n t e r p a r t s in t h e w e l l - b e i n g o f t h e i n d i v i d u a l at t h e e x p e n s e of
m a t t e r s of s o c i a l a n d p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n . O n - l i n e the community. Historically, liberals and
g r o u p s also usually p o s s e s s s o m e s h a r e d s t a n d a r d s c o m m u n i t a r i a n s have c o n c e p t u a l i z e d the p r o b l e m
of c o n d u c t , a c o m m o n a t t r i b u t e of face-to-face of c o m m u n i t y in t e r m s of a d e l i c a t e b a l a n c e be-