Throughout my life, my parents have recounted  countless stories about the close ties they had with their childhood communities. Whether it was hearing about their annual block parties or daily hangouts with friends next door, I couldn’t help but notice that communities, in the present day, don’t seem to be as close as they used to be. 

There is a drastic difference in how familiar older generations were with their neighbors, compared to new generations. According to Pew Research Center, 23% of adults under 30 don’t know any of their neighbors, compared with just 4% among those 65 and older. 

This may be because adults were raised in a generation without modern  technology..

This phenomenon could be attributed to the significant advancements in household technology within the last decade. Once common experiences — asking neighbors to help with household jobs like plumbing and gardening, borrowing items or receiving gifts like fresh baked cookies — have faded into a cliche of the past. Rather than asking a neighbor up the street to help you fix a pipe leak, you can now simply download an app and hire someone. Instead of walking across the street to ask a neighbor for a bag of sugar, Amazon Fresh can drop it at your front door with the click of a button. With new advancements on smartphones, computers, and other devices used in households, the idea of connecting with your neighbors becomes obsolete to many.

The only neighbor I’m close with is my neighbor across the street, and that connection was formed because she used to babysit me. 

Asking your neighbor to babysit your child is another job that has been replaced by the internet. In the past, asking a stranger to take care of your child was risky and unsafe, so people would turn to their neighbors. But now, online, you can find websites to hire qualified and available babysitters with very short notice. On most sites, profiles for potential babysitters are available where you can see their photos and background information. While neighborhood babysitters still exist, the simplicity of online hiring has decreased their numbers. 

A new method of babysitting has even been introduced known as online babysitting. People can pay babysitters to virtually watch over children. According to The New York Times, online babysitting can be successful for short periods of time. Rather than making the effort to ask a neighbor to help watch your child, parents are choosing to place their child in front of a screen just out of convenience. 

A few weeks ago my mom was telling me about how our neighbor went to Paris to watch the Olympics. I assumed that they had a conversation with each other, and was pleasantly surprised they were still in touch. This was until she showed me a picture of our neighbor that she had seen on Instagram and I realized that she was keeping up with our neighbor’s life virtually. This made me realize how much the internet can fool us into thinking we know the lives of the people right next door from us, when really, we’re strangers.

The illusion of believing you’re closer to your community than you truly are, is a product of technology and social media. According to research conducted by Penn State University, social media generally doesn’t provide a genuine sense of emotional connection that we could create if we focus more on the actual community around us.

Not only does modern technology create a false sense of bonds between communities, but it can lead people to not want to form those connections in the first place. According to Psychology Today, “Technology replaces real in-person relationships, and it has proven to increase loneliness and disconnection.”

It is no secret how addicting technology can be, especially in this generation. When people become too wrapped up in their phones and computers, they become isolated from reality — abandoning the idea of forming in-person connections. 

According to PubMed Central, “Internet Addiction is the inability to control the internet use that leads to impaired interpersonal relationships.”

Internet addiction was only officially discovered in the late 90s, and since then, has clearly established a relationship with the reduction of social connections, including those between neighbors.

Technology has taken away from the experiences that we could’ve had with our neighbors growing up. I would love to become closer with my neighbors to form connections and bonds with the people all around me, and going to a block party is at the top of my bucket list.