Researcher Explores Modern Society’s Impact on Sharing
August 27th, 2009 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Headline
Sharing is one of the most basic facets of human interaction, both on a personal and familial level and in terms of working with the rest of the world. Interested in the ways in which certain facets of modern society may be impacting the use and prevalence of sharing, a researcher from York University in Toronto conducted a review examining sharing trends and modern pathways of exchanging goods and services. The research clearly differentiated between sharing, gift-giving, and market trade, valuing sharing as that exchange which does not require reciprocity. Though individualized items such as meals and tech gadgets were seen as hurting the abundance of sharing within families, online collaborative media and project creation showed promise for promoting the sharing spirit well into the future.
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6 comments so far
An article that actually makes positive comments about the Internet? I may faint.
I’ve never thought of sharing as separate and distinct from gift-giving. I might be in the minority. Sharing is the giving of the gift of information. You give the gift of yourself, what you know and who you are.
If gift-giving is done with expectations of something in return, how is that giving? It’s swopping or trading. I never give anything, whether a physical gift or an informational one, in that spirit. When you share, that is the gift.
It can go the other way too though. Yeah people may be sharing online, but is that always a good thing? Just take a look around and it is not hard to come across seedy sites that want to share way too much information with us all. Personally I sometimes think we were all a lot better off without the level of “sharing” that goes on today. And as far as hurting families, yeah I do think that it has all made a negative impact. How many times do you go out and see people supposedly having dinner with their families but either the kids or the adults, maybe all, are too busy working and texting than they are having conversations with the people at their own tables? Far too often.
I would never do anything as rude as that Carson! Adults that let their kids to do so or do it themselves are setting an awful example.
I don’t see sharing as bad. If you’re uncomfortable with too much information you have choices. You can either not read it, let them know you are and ask them to quit being quite so open or find another place to go that’s more suited to your tastes.
Sharing is a good thing! The anonymity of the net makes me take almost everything I read with an extremely large dose of salt. On the other hand many internet users fall into groups such as housebound, carers, stay at home moms, disabled or single where the net’s one of the few places the opportunity to chat arises on their timetable. Isolation even when dictated by circumstances isn’t healthy.
Anything when misused or taken advantage of becomes a bad thing. I cast my vote in favour of sharing and hey the internet is a very helpful place too.