For a wide variety of reasons, the subject of unity and cohesion is a deeply fascinating problem for me, one I ponder often in a wide variety of ways. Today, I would like to examine the ways in which people use technology to find others close to them, as the problem of binding people close to them is an old one, but the means that people use to do so is often highly dependent on technology and culture. As it is a problem that I have pondered for a long while, it is something that perhaps will be something of interest to others, considering that I have observed the sort of behavior that serves to keep close to others however possible in a great many ways and contexts. So, let us begin.

As human beings, we all have contrary pulls, some of which draw us closer together to others, and some of which lead us to pull away from others. Speaking for myself, I tend to be more interested in closer connections when I feel relatively happy and optimistic, and I tend to be more withdrawn when I am feeling particularly lonely or depressed, though I am in general an extroverted person (if not always a very sociable one). Also, I tend to be highly dependent on technology to stay in touch with people, given my relatively chronic difficulties in transportation over the past few years. That said, the experience has given me some insight on how people try to bind others to them through technology, whether that is providing communications that give a reasonable facsimile of interpersonal interaction and that allow others to keep in touch when it is impossible to see them face-to-face, or whether it is through using technology to gain information and provide oversight to others within one’s jurisdiction.

There is an odd dichotomy in this. When technologies are first developed, they tend to make people more free and more atomistic, but as they are developed, they are quickly used to take away freedom and to increase the spread of propaganda or enforce unity and uniformity through increased information gathering capacity and control of access to infrastructure. The level of unity that one is willing to engage in with others and the level of freedom that one is willing to give to others (if one is in a position of authority) varies widely on the situation and the context. Where there is greater mutual trust, more freedom is acceptable and more unity is tolerable. Where there is less trust, less unity is tolerable and less freedom is granted to others. Technology can be both helpful and harmful in building trust, depending on the character of the people using it. Greater information gathering capacity simply means that one’s habits and behaviors are known to a greater level, and this can be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what kind of people we are. Anyone, for example, who would spy on me would be pretty bored because the sort of behavior I engage in is not the sort that is really worth spying. One cannot gain much greater insight about me as a person by watching me without my knowledge than one can gain by simply engaging me in a friendly fashion.

Truth be told, I think most of us would appreciate life a lot better if our institutions were in better shape. Given the ways that we try to build virtual communities and keep up friendships and relationships across the distance through communications technology, it is clear that we feel the need to rebuild communities that have fallen apart in our “real” lives. We may not always know how to behave in those virtual communities to ensure love and peace and harmony, and learning the right behaviors requires a great deal of hard work and practice, but the fact that we have the longing to gather ourselves together with a sense of greater unity shows that our hearts are good even if our practices could use improvement. Perhaps, if we are wise, we will turn such skills as we are able to gain in gathering people together through technology into interpersonal use, so that we are able to rebuild those institutions that have fallen into disrepair and ruin as a result of our sins and the sins of those who have come before us. Rather than cursing the darkness, though, let us shine a light.