Connected?

Well, it's been a fairly productive day, though I'm feeling relatively drained now!

Off to the church office this morning to sort some forms before taking a wander through Edinburgh and making a trip to the bank.

While there I picked up their free magazine for some reading on the bus. I came across the pictured article, which is looking at the impact technology, specifically social networking, is having on our ability to relate and communicate.

As the article points out there are certainly benefits to Facebook. Twitter and other such sites. However, there's definitely a challenge in how we think about them, the importance we place on them and how we use them.

The following couple of quotes seemed particularly interesting to think about:

'When we're only excited about a lovely view because uploading a photo of it will make our Facebook status look interesting, or when our updates are reduced to 'Off to yoga' and then 'Back from yoga', surely it's time to disconnect from our virtual world?'

and

' Face-to-face contact is an investment, especially when we're tired and have had a long day at work, but only real people keep us engaged and committed. Even when they're driving us mad, real people offer us support and challenge.'

I think it's quite likely that contact and communication through social networking sites doesn't allow encourage the same development and growth that comes from real-time communication.

There's positives to social network sites but certainly challenges, too!

Anyway, rest of the day was spent in the library working on my essay :-) tea was watched in front of the TV to catch up on Upstairs Downstairs, a joint dishwashing session and now finally winding down!

Tomorrow-food hygiene training for work!