Nothing in Isolation

One of the prevailing theories about the Internet is that it breeds isolation among its users. In fact, cultural critic Lee Siegel has come out with a new book, Against The Machine, in which he decries the Internet as "the first social environment to serve the needs of the isolated, elevated, asocial individual." Sitting in front of the computer screen, according to John Lanchester, who reviewed Siegel's book in Sunday's New York Times Book Review, "once would have been called disconnectedness or atomization," and is now being hyped as "connectivity."

I actually took a class a few semesters back in Cultural Theory in which we read some of the research that debunks Siegel's theory. Part of that research has to do with something called fandom and the role of electronic medium in being a fan. Elizabeth Bird, for one, has written extensively about the group of fans that grew up around the old television show, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and how this on-line community came together in person to meet and share their common interest in the television show. And lo and behold, she discovered they were articulate, educated, thoughtful, creative people who shared a common interest in American history, especially women and Native Americans and the history of medicine. For them, this presumed isolationist medium was in fact, the glue that brought them all together.

Certainly one need look no farther than the Fans of Barbaro to see this concept played out even farther. In this case it was interest in Barbaro's health that initially drew together a group of diverse people to follow his medical progress. But what is especially interesting about these fans is that A) they have remained together long after the object of their initial attraction ceased to exist and B) they have moved from an on-line community to an actual grass roots political action movement, lobbying for social change with regard to horse protection legislation.

There probably are some cases in which the Internet does encourage isolationism, perhaps among those who were prone to be anti-social to begin with. But I also think there are many times when it has provided an electronic support group to people who truly were looking for company to share their interests and help them escape from their individual universes. I belong to a list-serv of freelance professionals that is a wonderful support group, both in terms of information and friendship and I follow the posts of an on-line group for people whose pets have cancer just to keep my finger on the pulse of a topic I was previously researching.

So Mr. Siegel may have a point but it is not the only point. There is no substitute for human connection and when the Internet replaces that, I do agree that it is destructive. But when it is used as a tool to foster connections among like-minded "fans," I think it is a powerful medium, capable of breeding lasting change. Like everything else, however, it is just one tool and should always be regarded as such.