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Originally Posted by Brutha  The difficulty of talking to strangers are internal (in our own heads). |
If we convince ourselves that we shouldn't talk, yes.
If we close ourselves, yes.
Remember though that sometimes it can be the external environment that purposely imposes a barrier on communication, perhaps due to stereotypes, prejudice and even racism.
We can actively overcome those by disproving the prejudice, usually by simply approaching them without any in
ourselves. That can sometimes require mental effort, indeed.
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Originally Posted by Brutha The evolutionary part doesn't play a part in online forum discussion because it doesn't tiggers the "he might want to hit me on the head to get my food" response (which nobody can do anyway over the net  ).
Anonymity + time shifted discussion reduces the cultural mental blocks. |
I think this depends on how we perceive what we read.
If you have ever enjoyed a good novel, you should know what it means to "be part of the story", to feel the same emotions of the character, feel the their same adrenaline when the protagonists are threatened. See the other people...
Written words can transmit a lot. Our imagination can connect the dots and trigger the evolutionary aspects.
For me at least, it has always been like that. The first time I registered on a forum, I was banned for some reason; and I was feeling so bad that I phoned the administrator to clarify and met him in real life to apologize in person.
I later learned that there is a traditional "impersonality" among internet communities, that people "don't care"... but I'm sure such impersonality and anonymity can be overcome with a bit of personal effort.
Even now we're transmitting emotions and exchanging ideas while we talk - in the same way we would have done by writing each other handwritten letters.
And when we write a handwritten letter to our friends abroad, do we care about the fact that discussion is time shifted?
Don't you see my facial expression right now?
And don't you associate me with a voice timbre?
I think that the whole neuro-chemical aspect can be simulated, just as literature and theater can simulate life, even if not in a perfectly accurate way.
I think this whole "nobody cares" attitude on the internet will be overcome one day - maybe also because in future the principal medium will be something like "webcam posts".