There was an article in The New
York Times last week about Social Networking in the 1600s. The
article addresses the concern that some people have about today’s social media
networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. According to the article,
websites like Facebook and Twitter will cost our economy about $650 billion
every year.
Not only are they costly to keep running, but they, the social
media websites, seem to have an effect on our attention spans and tests scores
negatively. This is not the first time that social networking has gained a bad reputation.
Back in the 1600s, the idea of coffeehouses was imported from Arab. Coffeehouses were a place where people would go to discuss an array of thing
including pamphlets, news-sheets, and catch up on gossip.
At the time, an
Oxford academic, Anthony Wood blamed the decline in the drive to learn on the coffeehouses,
but many great things occurred because of the coffeehouses as well. Isaac Newton had an
argument with fellow scientist that prompted him to write the “Principia Mathematica.” Also, everyone, no matter who you were status wise,
was able to have conversations with each other.
The coffeehouses were something
like an "in person Facebook". It is simply something that has changed over time
like hand written letters have changed into emails, and how I am writing this
blog instead of standing up on a soap box. On the contrary to the beginning of
the article, today’s or the old age’s social networking has not put a damper on
our learning, it has more to do with the drive of a particular person.
What is
truly amazing is how things may evolve, but they do not become extinct. Who
knew that Facebook existed in a different form hundreds of years ago? Cool, right?
This is
definitely history repeating itself.
