Neighborhood, considered the strongest social bond after family ties, is weakening with the relationship patterns brought by modernism. Evaluating the damage caused by industrialization and modernization on neighborhood relations, Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “If people have close, warm relationships, a sense of trust forms in society. Neighborhood is a second support for trust-based, warm, and sincere relationships outside the family. This is both a spatial and a social bond. The current apartment structure has created people who are spatially close but socially and emotionally distant. Unfortunately, virtual relationships have replaced people's social relationships.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that with the changes brought by modernism, differences have emerged in neighborhood relations experienced in the past and today, saying, “Neighborhood is a second area where a person forms bonds after family. Thanks to neighborhood relationships, a child can play comfortably when they go out. When in need, there can be people other than family to turn to. This is a second support for trust-based, warm, and sincere relationships outside the family. It is mutual aid, solidarity. Neighborhood is considered the strongest social bond after family ties.” he said.
“There is a false freedom brought by modernism”
Tarhan pointed out that people who appear free within the false freedom offered by modernism are actually lonely, and he said the following: “Here, a person's communication is scarce, weak, and relationships have turned into interest-oriented connections instead of sincere, selfless ones. This is a characteristic brought by the secularization of our time. A philosophy of life focused solely on materialism and self-interest, lacking spiritual and meaningful dimensions, has also affected neighborliness. As a result, trust bonds have weakened, and the number of people who feel they might be harmed by their neighbors has increased. A child growing up in such a situation learns, ‘Life is unsafe.’ You raise them without even trusting their closest neighbor. Even within families, we sometimes see children raised with the message, ‘don’t trust your father.’ Many of these children develop mental health disorders. People experience feelings of homelessness, rootlessness, and abandonment. As a result, the neurotic person of the age emerges.”
Tarhan stated that in the ‘World Values Survey’ published in Chicago, ‘the weakening of neighborhood ties’ was identified as a danger facing humanity, adding, “In 2018, three dangers awaiting humanity were announced in Davos: the first is economic inequality, the second is climate change, and the third is loneliness. Loneliness means a decrease in trust. People become alienated. Alienated people turn into robots, and the system manages them. We become slaves to the established system, the digital system. A type of human emerges who becomes a consumption item. They become unhappy. Neighborhood is actually a beautiful solution humanity has found. When parents cannot be close, neighbors are a huge support.” he said.
Neighborhood makes life easier
Tarhan stated that there should be a non-opportunistic and non-calculating relationship among neighbors, saying, “Sometimes, people feel the need to alleviate loneliness and share. Even if a neighbor just sits and listens, or approves some of their words, that person feels safe at that moment. When there is a crisis, acting with the feeling of ‘there's a second door I can turn to, someone who can help me’ can even help that person sleep soundly. It makes life easier.” he said.
The first door to society: The Neighbor
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that there are verses in all sacred texts emphasizing neighborliness after parents, saying, “Neighborhood has served social peace. The first door through which family privacy, family intimacy, opens to society is the neighbor. In such a situation, it is the second area after the family. Therefore, if a person is in a giving and sharing relationship with their neighbor, if it is a ‘Do good to your neighbor!’ focused relationship, benevolent feelings also awaken in the other party. Goodness expands the benevolent part, and motivation to do good also emerges in the other party.” he said.
Neighborhood creates a sense of ‘life is safe’
Tarhan noted that in our culture, in neighborhood relations, people ask ‘do you need anything?’, and he explained with examples the areas where neighbors support each other: “When someone new moves into the neighborhood, everyone visits, immediately brings tea and soup, and helps. If there is a funeral, all the neighbors immediately gather. Every neighborhood has such a wise mother. They don't allow gossip. They always support each other. At weddings and holiday invitations, they always help with dishes, and make halva. In neighborliness, these things create a sense of ‘I am valuable, I am cared for, life is safe’ in a person's developing soul. This is also something that prevents many mental illnesses from emerging in people.”
Virtual relationships replaced social relationships
Tarhan stated that in our culture, the neighborhood is seen as the smallest unit that transfers society's culture after the family, saying, “What is called neighborhood pressure is actually a social norm. In social norms, there are social boundaries in that society. For example, when a child misbehaves, one of the neighbors intervenes. Even if the parents are absent, society somewhat corrects the child's wrongdoings. But modernity broke this, and the rapid transformation brought by industrialization and technology accelerated it. While dealing with technology, people became unable to spare time for each other. Today, virtual relationships have replaced people's social relationships. There is no real sociality on social media. On social media, people generally hide their identities, entering the most unsafe areas from the safe environment of their homes. They form fake friendships, and they mistake lying for a skill.” he said.
The world is heading towards digital dictatorship
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, noting that people on social media try to appear as they should be, not as they are, continued his words as follows: “This is also a disrespect towards themselves. Trust relationships between people are damaged, and a fake communication emerges. This is what we call alienation, the inability of a person to be themselves. We have become individuals managed by an established system. We think we are free, but the world is currently heading towards a digital dictatorship. People are experiencing a kind of psychological alienation; figuratively speaking, there is a voluntary imperialism. In the past, people's possessions were forcibly taken, and colonialism was imposed by force. Now it is taken through voluntary imperialism. Desires are aroused in people, human weaknesses are exploited. Attraction is created.”
We need to be the subject, not the object, of technology
Tarhan noted that humanity is currently a victim of technology, saying, “Actually, there is a solution to this. We need to focus on ‘what can I do right now’. We are in the position of being the object of technology; we need to be the subject. If we have control, if we can manage our time ourselves and say ‘no,’ we can succeed. True freedom is not getting carried away by the desires and impulses of others, but being able to say no to our own desires and impulses. Without falling into the pleasure traps offered by technology, we will plan our day and manage it accordingly. We will know what, where, and how to use. We will be the subject of our own lives.” he said.
Aimlessness leads to the social media trap
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that aimlessness leads young people into the social media trap, saying, “People need a purpose to be able to say no to such pleasure traps, to things that consume our energy and time. For example, school, university is a purpose. There are abstract goals about what kind of person one will be at the end of life. A young person with such a purpose can manage themselves. If there is a life philosophy that views opportunism, trickery, lying, and being shrewd as virtues, this person easily falls into pleasure traps, money traps, interest traps, and drug traps. First, they need to be a good person.” he said.