Lesson 3 So Close, Yet So Far 第三课 这么近，但又那么远
Mark never stops socializing with his friends online. But he’s also never felt more alone.
马克一直在和网上的朋友们交往却也从未感到如此孤独。
Where am I? What am I doing? If you're one of my 500 friends online, you’ll always be the first to know. My phone and laptop are never out of touching distance, so I’m constantly posting updates on social media—whether I’m having a coffee, on my way to school, watching TV... even when I’m in the shower. As soon as I open my eyes in the morning, I check through all my social networking apps, read my emails and answer text messages. I do the same thing all over again while I’m having breakfast.
我在哪里？我在做什么？如果你是我的500个网友之一，你总会第一个知道。我的手机和笔记本电脑一直在身边，所以我可以不断地在社交媒体上更新——无论是在喝咖啡、上学的路上、看电视……甚至在洗澡的时候。早上一睁开眼，我就会立刻查看所有社交网络应用程序，阅读电子邮件并回复短信。我在吃早餐的时候会再做一遍这些事情。
I live in a university dorm with a couple of great roommates. I have a never-ending flow of messages and updates from all the people I associate with online. Yet the truth of the matter is: I feel lonely.
我住在大学宿舍里，室友们都很好。我总是不停地收到交往的网友发来的信息和最新消息。然而事实却是：我感到孤独。
I’m barely the only person who feels this way. According to research, over two-thirds of young people find it easier to make friends online than it is “in real life”. I’m way beyond a shy or reserved person, but I’m wired up every day, like most of my friends. On the surface, I have an active social life. I attend parties and play sports but I’m always distracted. They say that phones bring people closer together but in reality, my mind is always a million miles away. I obsess over exactly how many followers I have on my account, but I can’t remember the birthdays of some of my oldest mates.
我不是唯一个有这种感觉的人。研究显示，超过三分之二的年轻人发现在网上交朋友比在“现实生活中”交朋友更容易。我远非一个害羞或含蓄的人，但是我每天都在网上，我的朋友们大多也是如此。从表面上看，我的社交生活很丰富。我也参加派对和体育运动，但总是不能专心。他们说手机让人们联系更加紧密，但实际上，我的思绪总是“飞到十万八千里之外。我总是掂记自己的账号有多少人关注，但却记不起一些老朋友的生日。
Social networking dominates my life in so many ways. Sometimes I set deadlines for myself: I will start doing my homework at 8 pm, and aim to finish in two hours. At 7.50 pm, I'm still scrolling through my friends’ silly posts and photos. Before I know it, it's 9.30 pm and I still haven’t moved an inch from the sofa. I download song after song, video after video, but I’m not really paying attention. The stimulation is in chasing after the next song rather than truly enjoying it. My friends try to drag me away from my phone, but as soon as I’m alone again, I’m desperate to get back to the online world and the intense activity that it provides.
社交网络在很多方面都控制着我的生活。有时我会为自己设定截止时间：我要在晚上8点开始做作业，并且要在两小时内完成。晚上7:50，我还在浏览朋友们发的无聊帖子和照片。等我意识到的时候已经是晚上9:30了，我还在沙发上坐着一动没动。我下载一首又一首歌曲、一个又一个视频，但其实并不在意。刺激来自于获取下一首歌而不是真正欣赏音乐。朋友们试图让我远离手机，但是一旦我独自一人，就会不顾一切地回到网络世界和网上紧张的活动中。
I constantly feel depressed, dissatisfied and alone. Since I spend so much time socialising online, I keep delaying things that are important in my real life: homework, tasks, connecting with my friends and family members in a meaningful way. It’s funny that my friends and I chatter away online so much, but we end up having nothing to say when we meet.
我经常感到沮丧、不满和孤独。因为我花了很多时间上网社交，所以我一直在推迟现实生活中重要的事情：家庭作业、任务、以有意义的方式和家人朋友联系。有趣的是，我和朋友们经常在网上聊天，但我们见面时却无话可说。
A few days ago, I went out for a dinner get-together with some friends. My best friend left the table for 30 minutes because he had to take a call. Some spent the dinner bent over their phones, texting friends online but ignoring the ones who sat right in front of them. And the extraordinary thing is nobody thought this was rude; it’s just how life is nowadays. On a family holiday last summer, my sister spent all her time complaining that she needed to charge her phone. When it was charged, she just spent hours reading about her favourite popstar; not once did she lift her head to enjoy the view outside her window.
几天前，我和一些朋友出去吃晚饭。我最好的朋友因为接听电话而离席30分钟。有些人整个晚餐都埋头看手机，给网上的朋友发短信，却忽略了坐在他们面前的人。不可思议的是没有人认为这不礼貌，这就是现在的生活方式。去年夏天一次全家去度假，我妹妹一直抱怨说她的手机需要充电。手机充上电后，又花了数小时浏览她最喜欢的流行歌星的消息，一次也没有抬起头欣赏窗外的景色。
What is really worrying is that no one I know, including myself, could go cold turkey. I can't even imagine going without social networking for a wee—think of all the important appointments, invitations and news updates you would miss! Alcoholics who want to quit drinking can avoid booze, but how do we give up our phones? After all, I need it for my studies because my teachers and classmates need to contact me at any time.
令人真正担心的是，我认识的每个人，包括我自己，都不能够戒掉互联网。我甚至无法想象一周没有社交网络的生活——想想你会错过的所有重要约会、邀请和新闻更新！想要戒酒的酗酒者可以避免饮酒，但我们如何放弃手机呢？毕竟，我需要它来学习，因为我的老师和同学需要随时与我联系。
So, that’s the problem with social networking. We're hard-wired in, but we’re more disconnected than ever.
所以，这就是社交网络的问题。我们被网线连接，但人与人却比以往更加疏远。
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