A few bits of Social Phenomena

Two little bits here that seem unrelated although some abstract thought in my head that is pretty hard to put my finger on tells me somehow they are.

In this piece about the loss of close inter-personal relationships as a by product of the internet, I think the last paragraph states the problem with this type of study correctly.  The study used was done from 1985-2004.  Much has changed in this 20 year span, not least of which are our popular and understood definitions of roles in society.  What was then considered to  be close friends may no longer have a place in our modern society, this does not mean that the role of the close friend has been erased from our society.  The safety net described by a network of close personal friends may simply have morphed past the understanding of this survey.  Topics that used to be discussed between a person and their peers that were considered by the affected party as "a serious personal matter" may now be handed off to a web of friends on a favorite social networking site (composed argueably of close personal peers) or on a site that caters to that particular area of personal concern.  A problem that used to seem so dire to a high school student (sexual/physical initiation with a partner, a family problem, or a matter affecting peformance in school) now seem to find their ways onto chat forums with hundreds if not thousands of people willing to give mostly honest opinions as to the best roads to take for a resolution.  The right question here is which method is better.  A few close social friends act as a good group to talk to because they know you and you trust their opinion, hence close friend.  Now we live past the time when Arkanoid was the bomb and our social net was not even imagined to be as large as many people's are today.  Maybe the closeness and feelings we used to use to solve these problems has been moved to a different domain and a time when sharing problems with perfect strangers doesn't seem so far fetched. 

This article about Adult Immaturity really does help explain the socio-political climate that exists in our world today.  It's hard to explain the kinds of news stories and arguements we here between today's supposedly enlightened and advanced minds another way.  I hate to turn this into a administration bashing piece, but the way the American system of Government runs today does seem to mimic what a government would look like if it were run by children trying to give the appearance of logic and order.  Some of the time it would look like the left did not know what the right was doing nor did it care, and the rest of the time it would seem like idiotic bickering and unwilligness to yield/compromise were the norms, both things that adolescents are well known for.