Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Digital Divide vs. People Divide

If people can get any song they like, why should they listen to their friend's music, or (horrors) listen to the music selected by a group of barflies? By allowing people to have whatever they want, are we destroying that ability to get along?
- Sarah Gilbert blogs About those killers: does digital music kill community?


I think Sarah's blog about Fry's theory stating that with mass customization and digitization comes loss in community and the thrill of the hunt for that one good song in an otherwise terrible
jukebox
is something people should be conscious about when they use gadgets like iPods, MP3 players etc.

These days, we are constantly searching new technologies and business models for narrowing the digital divide between urban and rural people to hunt down "lack of access" to information and communication technologies. But in this run, we should not get hit by the problem of people getting divided across iLines.

Technologies that allow people to hide in their own [mental] cocoons are a threat to the community spirit. Remember, Man is just not a being, Man is a social being.

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