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[E152]Effects Of Social Isolation

by F. Novak, F.

Sociologists have studied what has been termed “cocooning” very carefully since the explosion of the world wide web. Cocooning is the process of social isolation where a society withdraws from physical interaction with each other. This “hermit-like” behavior can lead to the decline of many cultural and social traditions. Cocooning also affects the way we interact with other when do finally leave the house and meet face to face.

The availability and popularity of the internet has changed the way that humans communicate and interact. We can spend hours in chat rooms pretending to be beautiful, successful and brilliant when in fact we are average looking, overweight and unemployed. The person at the other end of the keyboard has no way of verifying our claims or disproving them.

Discussion over the internet removes an essential aspect of communication: body language. Such things as posturing, fidgeting and eye contact all are unconscious transmitters of our true intentions. We learn as small children not to make eye contact when telling a lie and to cross our arms to distance ourselves from unpleasant people or situations. As of today, the computer screen has no way of converting these communication skills into data that can be observed as overtones in the written text of a conversation.

This cocooning may affect the communication skills of future generations. While excelling at expressing themselves through the written word, our children may lack the skills to give a convincing speech in public of carry on a comfortable conversation while waiting in line at the grocery store. Some youth even use text messaging to communicate when they are in the same room.

The prevalence of home based businesses may be in part due to this preference for cocooning and nonverbal communication. It is perfectly acceptable to home school your children, run a business from your home, email your mother and fax your clients. You can even order a pizza, shop for a birthday gift and have your groceries delivered: all without any verbal communication.

As in everything in life, a balance is needed. If you email your mother today, call her tomorrow and visit her on the weekend. If you work from home, make time to visit the park. Join social groups rather that internet message forums. Limit the amount of time that your children use the internet and cell phone for text messaging. Encourage teens to take a speech or debate class along with that computer programming class when signing up for college courses.

Many great social traditions like wedding rituals and back yard barbeques may someday soon be in danger of extinction. We all must do our part to keep the spark of social interraction alive for future generations.

Nervous breakdown is also termed as mental breakdown. There are many causes which contribute to the problem of nervous breakdown. But social isolation is regarded as one of the major causes of nervous breakdown. There may be several reasons behind social isolation. It hardly matters, as the damage caused by this factor is quite irreparable.

Mental breakdown is another name for nervous breakdown in the medical terms. It is related with the mental illness of person. The disorder takes place mostly due to depression. During the yesteryears, this disorder was known as melancholia, vapors, neuralgic disease, neurasthenia and prostration. Initially, all the doctors and the medical professionals assumed it to be a disorder of the nervous system. Then later on they realized that the disorder is due to a disease in the mind of the person.

How it affects
Nervous breakdown is a depressed mental state in which the thinking capability and reasoning capabilities of a person vanish. So, it signifies that a person suffering from nervous breakdown cannot judge the reasonability of a particular situation. Thus, the problem aggravates.

Apart from other causes social isolation is a very widely accepted cause for nervous breakdown. Social isolation in the basic sense means parting away from the near and dear ones. Now, social isolation works both ways. Either one can get socially isolated by his so called society or the person may socially isolate himself. Though, the latter is more frequently found, the former also holds a strong presence in the scenario.

Closing thoughts
Many a times it happens that a person is dejected because of the society. Here the term society shall not be taken in its literal sense. Rather, society here refers to the group, both professional and personal, to which the person belongs. It may be for several reasons.

A person may be expelled from the group because of his behavioral disorders etc. However, it is not always necessary that the person affected should be at fault. The individuals present in the group can also be at fault. Thus, once the person is expelled from the group, he starts feeling dejected and alone. In this isolation period he starts experiencing hallucinations. Thus the problem gets all the more aggravated.

So, these stand to be some of the reasons because of which a person gets isolated from his near and dear ones. This traumatizes his mind and thus he finds himself in deep trouble and this situation is commonly known as nervous breakdown.

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