A QUESTION OF PROGRESS: FACE-TO-FACE RELATIONSHIPS VERSUS FACE-TO-SCREEN RELATIONSHIPS

Information and communication technology (ICT) is widely considered to be an essential factor in qquiring what is commonly known as ‘progress’. The proliferation of this technology has determined the proliferation of social relationships as space-time bonds have been overcome. Moreover, due to widespread communication devices, individuals are more accessible and we are able to reach whoever we want, whenever we want to – this happens almost seamlessly. Are the dynamics that characterize relationships mediated by ICT the same traditional unmediated relationships? In other words, is the nature of the interaction that characterizes a phone call the same as a face-to-face one? It is in this context that face-to-screen relationships have been identified in contrast to the face-to-face relationships. This contraposition is useful in order to examine the difference between these kinds of relationships. This paper will explore the content of social relationships: everyday life comes to the fore through the perspective endorsed by Heidegger (1962) in his most important work: Being and Time. Through the concepts of idle talk, curiosity and ambiguity it has been possible to emphasise those aspects of every day life in which social relationships constitute a basis in order to question if the spread of mediated relationships supports the dynamics in relation to these three concepts. Finally, the proliferation of mediated relationships and the contextual decrease in importance of face-to-face relationships has led to a scenario whereby the term ‘progress’, introduced in the beginning of this introduction, is not representative. This is an introductory paper in which a series of hypotheses have been posed on the proliferation of social relationships mediated by ICT, but these hypotheses require an empirical validation