A Basic Need

1/24/07: I read the article "Blogs: A Disruptive Technology Coming of Age?" by Phillip D. Long. Although I think this article is mostly generic information that left me asking more questions that weren't answered, it brought up some thought-provoking points. First, the author writes, "The desire to communicate is powerful, and technological innovations are frequently driven by our basic needs." The author gives the example of e-mail being invented so that engineers could communicate -- and that is the key word: communicate. Communication is a basic need -- self-expression is a basic need. The private, personal diary is no longer as popular (or so it seems) as the online diary -- the blog. Now our diaries are not only shared, but they are written on the world wide web for all the world to see! It's as though now that blogs, online diaries, are possible and accessible, millions are taking advantage of it, which proves human kind's great need for for communication -- for sharing and feedback -- with others.

Yet I wonder if this kind of communication grows increasingly popular because, as people communicate online more, their need for personal contact increases because their need is not being completely filled. Perhaps communication online is not as personal, and therefore not as fulfilling, as face-to-face contact and interaction. I could be wrong about this, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times.

As our society grows busier, people spend more time online, and as people are busier and spend more time online, their need for personal, face-to-face interaction increases. To substitute for that need, folks express themselves online more.

The growh of bloggers is amazing. Long writes that the New York Times estimated "there were now over half a million Weblogs, with the number growing." Why the hunger? Why such rapid growth? It all goes back to our need for communication, for contact. Entrepreneur Jacob Shwitz "likens this growth to the digital equivalent of sharing stories around the campfire, almost a primal urge" (Long). Our needs have not changed, but the mediums of communication have. And as the mediums make contact perhaps less personal, I believe our need grows, and so does our use of technology to pacify those needs.