Do You Think That Population Growth Has Affected Socialization Negatively?

In the past, when we lived in hunter-gatherer societies, there were very few people. We all knew everyone. This was the case up until very recently with the growth in population following the industrial revolution.

Nowadays, people see 10000 people every day and can fly to the other end of the world at a moment's notice and can communicate at the speed of light with people living on the other side of the planet.

Do you think this has affected socialization negatively or positively?

 

Define socialization - or do you mean socializing?

 

Well, it's a lot easier to talk to people online through text than it is face-face if that's what you mean.. in my experience anyway.

 

I don't know. Either one. The way in which we interact with the other members of humanity.

The fact that we can see someone, and kind of forget about them, like they are just a nameless, faceless thing in the crowd because there are so many other people.

Ted Kaczynski had a theory that this is the root of a lot of negative human behavior. They begin to see people as nothing because there are just so many of them.

Not that I'm a fan of his or anything, and who is he to talk???

But for example, a common thing that happens for example, at fraternity parties on college campuses, girls will get drugged and raped and the guys don't even care because they don't have to see the person ever again. It's not their sister, cousin, etc.... it's just some random "thing" that was unlucky enough to go to their party.

Individual --> immediate family --> extended family --> complete strangers

We are surrounded by complete strangers every day. I see the people who work at the gas station more than my own immediate family members.

Whereas, for almost 200,000 years, a person spent their whole life with their immediate and extended family and probably never saw more of the world than they could see by walking.