Summary Of The Social Networks By Neal Gabler

In the article, “The Social Networks,” by Neal Gabler, a writer at LA Times, Gabler talks about how television shows like Friends or Seinfeld integrate social interactions into our lives without being visibly present and also examines the social interaction differences between real life and television. In a typical weekday in America, workers do not have much time to spend on friends as they have to deal with some of their own responsibilities such as family and work in real life. However, in television shows like Friends, the statement was the complete opposite. Characters would spend most of their screen time with friends rather than working in their little cubicles at offices. Gabler tries to help those who work in the film industry as well as those who watch television understand how characters from the
He tries to make a point on how our social interactions between our friends are dissipating due to our time spent watching television instead. It is not because we dislike our friends though, but it is because we fantasize in living in these characters’ lives. Gabler explains, “But what none of these theories of television has noticed is that TV has learned how to compensate for the increasing alienation it seems to induce. And it compensates not by letting us kill time with ‘friends’ on-screen but by providing us with those nonstop fantasies of friendship, which clearly give us a vicarious pleasure” (317). Gabler implies we could watch television for hours because they provide never ending fantasies of friendship with each television show. This would also help explain why we use social media to keep track with our friends or see what a celebrity is up to. A simple photo or video shown in social media allows us to fantasize being in their shoes and living in the moment. This