Read Putnam’s article and the information in the shared Google Doc. Click on the links provided. In one, cohesive post, consider the following: Why is social capital declining? What information within this activity struck you the most? What is another concept/statistic that might contribute to the decline? What are solutions to the decline of social capital? Create one real solution to build social capital at school, local, or national level. What criticisms do you have of Robert Putnam’s thesis? Once you have completed your initial post, comment on the post of at least one other classmate.
10 Comments
Courtney
10/25/2018 09:29:10 am
Social capital is declining because the use of internet communication mostly. Instead of walking over to your neighbors house to ask a question, or walking a few blocks to tell your newest gossip to your friend now we use FaceTime, Call, or Text. Its sad the way this has gone so downhill, in 1975 the average friends over to the house was 15 times a year, in 1995 it was down to 8 times a year. What struck me most from this activity is the amount of stuff we do via the Internet, and how back a couple decades ago their was no Internet so that meant actually spending quality time with others. Another thing the decline is causing is obesity, instead of sitting outside or playing outside getting some sunlight the kids nowadays are sitting inside eating food all day in front of a Xbox or Playstation playing video games, its very unhealthy. To improve social capital, and keep it from declining more we need to go out and join clubs, connect with more people, and maybe even turn your phone off for a couple of hours while over at a friends house. I think there should be more outdoorsy clubs in schools where u go out on trips with classmates, but are made to leave your phone home. I agree with Robert Putnam's thesis.
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Nathan
10/30/2018 09:00:40 pm
I agree with you Courtney, the internet is sucking the socialness out of teens these days and it will continue to get worse. Although the internet is an amazing and helpful resource, it holds desocialization as a major con. This problem will continue in depth and time because the internet is constantly creating more ways to do things and more people are getting access to it. I also agree that with all of this time on the internet, obesity is more common from all the inactivity. I believe that more outdoors clubs would help greatly and maybe also decreasing the amount that the internet can accomplish.
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Nathan
10/30/2018 10:03:37 pm
Social Capital in America is declining because of the rapid advancement of technology in the 20th century. All of the new uses of the internet, smartphones, etc. has made it so people do not have to go out much anymore to talk with each other. Commuting to work also has a major decline on social capital. This is because Americans spend over 100 hours annually on their commutes to work. All of this time is usually spent alone unless carpooling which causes there to be no social interaction with anyone per say. Another problem that has a huge impact is longer work hours as the goal of the person taking these longer work hours is to gain more wealth. This causes the worker to have very little social time outside of work because when that worker gets off, they will most likely be tired from the long, stressful workday and will just want to go home and relax in front of the television. The most surprising thing that I learned about the decreasing social capital was that how in every 10 minutes of commuting, that is a 10% decrease in their social capital. Another issue that might decrease social capital may be book reading. A lot of people love to read books, and many are not in a book club which causes them to be to themself whenever they are reading the book and that lowers social capital. A solution to the decline of social capital could be to possibly raise wages and decrease working hours. A time in the day could be created at school where kids have to put their phones in a bin before they walk into a meeting place and then the kids in the school are to be social with each other for 15 minutes without their screens. I believe that Putnam’s thesis blames technology a lot when in reality, the rapid advancement of technology in the U.S. is a huge part of our everyday lives and is for sure needed in most cases; but yes, there are indeed people who take advantage of this technology and cause their social capital’s to take a detrimental loss.
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McKay Shockley
10/31/2018 10:58:11 am
I totally agree with you Nathan. Technology is taking over out lives so much that we don't talk to our neighbors is a growing problem. I think that cutting down on screen time would increase our social capital.
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Courtney
10/31/2018 12:44:17 pm
I agree with you Nathan and Mckay. My post had to deal with how technology is taking over our lives also. I also believe cutting down screen time and increasing outside time would greatly influence all generations, especially starting that at a young age.
Landon
11/4/2018 12:03:15 pm
I definitely agree that technology is very important, and plays a big role in our everyday lives.
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McKay Shockley
10/31/2018 10:52:48 am
There are many aspects contributing to the social capital declining. Some aspects that play a big role are the fact that people are becoming less social (having less people over, not as much time with family, people are living alone, and that a lot of people don’t know their neighbors). The wages that Americans make from their jobs is also declining. In July of 2018, the average hourly earnings for a non-management and private-sector worker was 22.65 dollars. Year over year growth has ranged from 2% and 3% since the start of 2013. But the years before the 2007 and 2008 financial collapse, those hourly earnings increased by 4% every year. In the 1970’s and 1980’s average wages jumped 7%, 8%, and even 9% year over year. While other countries cut down on their work hours per year, the United States has the most work hours per year out of all developed countries which leads to Americans not taking as many vacations as they want or need to. That causes them to not expand their knowledge by traveling places or meeting new people. People’s commutes to their job also affects the social capital. The average American spends at least 100 hours a year commuting to their job, not only does that fulfill the two week vacation period, but with the average commute being 27 minutes long, that gives workers less time to be social around the office and meet new people within their place of work. Technology has also taken over our time as well. A study shows that Americans spend more than 10 and half hours in front of their television, and that number is growing. Cell phones and the internet are taking up people’s lives as well. By having a cell phone, people are not talking to their friends and family face to face and having their time taken up with social media, games, etc.
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Anna Pittman
10/31/2018 07:50:10 pm
You have some nice facts in your comment, but I do not agree with you. When an individual is stressed, it can sometimes stress them out more to talk to someone else. Sometimes they need to spend time alone watching television or playing a game on their phone. Spending time outside is also sometimes hard to do in the world that we live in now.
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Anna Pittman
10/31/2018 07:46:35 pm
Social capital is declining due to the developments in technology, which is not always a bad thing. I believe that people should spend less time on the internet doing useless things like social media, but the internet also helps many people see many important things. I do not agree with Putnam’s thesis because the internet is amazing, it is an all knowing machine that helps many people. I believe that the internet can be used for useless things and I also agree that it is making people be less social, but if that is how a person is happy being, then let them keep being happy. How many people would be enraged if the internet was taken away? Quite possibly everyone. I believe that as a kid and while a child’s mind is developing they should spend time outdoors with friends or family, but as Nathan pointed out in his comment, how many adults are going to want to go outside and spend time with their kid after a long day at work? Not a lot, which is when and why the adult gives their kid technology and internet access. I do not think people should blame the decline of social capital on the advances of technology. While it is arguable that teens or people do not spend time with their family, it is also because of the large amounts of work that the individual needs to complete. If the internet was taken away then all of the homework that gets assigned to me would not be completed.
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Landon
11/4/2018 12:02:10 pm
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