The Poison is the Dose

Computer Mediated Communication is often presented negatively. Sometimes the cause of this is the assumption that CMC is always a poor substitute for face-to-face interaction. At other times, it is assumed that CMC & face-to-face interaction are mutually exclusive. These two assumptions unite in the commonly held idea that anyone who uses CMC extensively – spends a lot of time on Facebook, Second Life, Twitter… whatever – is inevitably losing touch with real life social skills & being transformed into a stereotypical Geek.

Back when alchemy was giving way to chemistry, & superstition giving way to science, a man who styled himself Paracelsus wrote, “All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” This idea is often shortened to “the poison is the dose”. It was a profound insight that still underpins toxicology – that a toxic substance administered carefully can have medicinal effect, & a harmless substance, even water, can kill if you consume too much of it.

I think the same thing goes for CMC. You can have a satisfying social life that includes both through face-to-face & virtual encounters. In fact, most of the skills required are transferable – an engaging conversationalist already has the most important skill required to write an interesting blog & vica versa.

Some people I know do, undoubtedly, spend too much time online – I know obsessive adult gamers who spend every hour they are not working online, & kids who have to be prized away from games machines with a crowbar, just to eat. However, I also know other kids who play computer games for a while… they get up to find their brother or their friends, for a game of football. There is nothing wrong with gaming. The machine does not have the power of an addictive drug.

The real problem, it seems to me, is the increasing privatisation of everyday life. There is no social life ‘on the street’ as there used to be. Kids don’t play outside, because road traffic makes it dangerous & media scare stories make it seem even more so. Increased geographical mobility has broken up extended families & substituted the one-way, passive & isolating medium of television.

The more fortunate kids in the example above have brothers, & accessible friends, a nearby playing field & permission to go there… The less fortunate one is confined to bedroom stocked up with TV, games machines, a computer because these things make him ‘safer’ & more easily managed.

People are poor communicators because they are poor communicators. The reason for this lies in the wider circumstances of their lives – they were not ‘spoiled’ by CMC. Indeed, someone who is social inept IRL is also likely to be boring & disruptive in virtual forums.The reverse is also true

Consider Linus Torvalds. This is a man who single-handedly wrote an entire operating system & publicised it so effectively through online bulletin boards that it took on a life of its own, & grew up into Linux. You probably cannot find a more solitary & abstract area of human endeavour than computer programming. This is where you would expect to find the alienated, socially inept, stereotypical Geeks.

However, Torvalds is a pleasant, laid-back guy – a engaging public speaker, & an interesting writer (try his book “Just for Fun”). The Open Source software community that works around Linux not only gets difficult work effectively done online, but also gets together IRL , from international conventions to local pub support groups.

Real & virtual social worlds can support & enhance each other. The poison is the dose.