Me: Look at us!
Anna: What?
Me: I mean, we're talking, face-to-face.
Anna: I guess we are.
Me: Isn't that so analog? Like, there's no electronic interface separating us. We're not holding banana-shaped pieces of plastic to our heads, or pushing buttons. No, we're looking at each other in the face with our eyes and then we're speaking to each other using our vocal chords. How crazy is that?
Anna: Quite remarkable.
Just the other day, Anna and I were contemplating what it means to socialize. I suppose that neither of us has the firmest grasp on the subject, and we spent some time comparing notes on when we considered it appropriate to use a text message. But what freaked us out the most was the sheer size and power of online social networks. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we were left in awe or had our minds boggled. For me, the image that immediately comes to mind when I think of web 2.0 and social networking is that of a glob of grey matter, a mosh pit of neurons, firing off impulses in a storm of activity.
Anyway, Anna recounted how Tumblr, through a string of posts and re-posts of some content that she had made, ended up linking her to an acquaintance who she had not contacted for the better part of a decade. Bizzare. Welcome to the future of human interaction, I guess.
Postscript: Sorry Anna, but I know that that's not how you talk. Well, that's not really how I talk either.
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
03 June 2010
03 February 2010
Day 34
So it appears that I've been invited to join the Exodus out of Facebook, in search of a more promising place on the internet. As I write this from a public computer in the East Asian Library, it sounds like quite the reasonable proposal.
For a start, I can (and usually do) reach the people that I want to socialize with via means other than facebook. Second, facebook is a great way to waste large amounts of time that could otherwise be channeled into activities such as curing cancer or inventing a better mousetrap. Third, the majority of content on facebook is spam. These days, most all of the event invitations I get come from people I only peripherally know.
While these are pretty compelling reasons to not use facebook on a frequent basis, I'll probably keep one anyway. It's a pretty powerful directory in terms of looking other people up, and there's a definite utility to being able to contact acquaintances in a non-threatening, non-committal way. Basically, I think I've come to the point where I've realized that facebook isn't by any means an essential social networking tool, and as a consequence, have stopped wasting most of my free time browsing it. I wonder if the generation that invented the telephone had to deal with this. Anyway, I'm keeping my facebook, unless Ramon gives me a damned good reason not to.
For a start, I can (and usually do) reach the people that I want to socialize with via means other than facebook. Second, facebook is a great way to waste large amounts of time that could otherwise be channeled into activities such as curing cancer or inventing a better mousetrap. Third, the majority of content on facebook is spam. These days, most all of the event invitations I get come from people I only peripherally know.
While these are pretty compelling reasons to not use facebook on a frequent basis, I'll probably keep one anyway. It's a pretty powerful directory in terms of looking other people up, and there's a definite utility to being able to contact acquaintances in a non-threatening, non-committal way. Basically, I think I've come to the point where I've realized that facebook isn't by any means an essential social networking tool, and as a consequence, have stopped wasting most of my free time browsing it. I wonder if the generation that invented the telephone had to deal with this. Anyway, I'm keeping my facebook, unless Ramon gives me a damned good reason not to.
27 January 2010
Day 27
I suppose there are several things to remark upon today:
First. This morning I had theatre class, and we focused on sensory experiences, in which we paired up, with one person blindfolded and one person leading the other around campus to show the blindfolded one "snapshots." Walking without sight is pretty daunting at first, but I got to trusting my guide pretty quickly. The snapshots I got to see were of birds and squirrels hopping around campus, doing their business, along with a really green patch of ivy. I suppose the sense deprivation made the colors pretty vibrant, because I don't recall ivy ever being quite that green.
Second. I have a lot going for myself: not only do I eat three meals a day, but I also have access to hot and cold running water. Additionally, I live with four walls and central heating, I have a soft bed, and I receive a heavily-subsidized public university education. Things are going pretty awesome by global/historical standards. That said, I still kind of want to live in a yurt on the steppes.
Third. Today I added a friend. No, not on The Facebook, but in The Reality. Julie the Marine Scientist will be there for me in physics lab/discussion when I need to talk to someone about the geomorphology of islands or NPR. Which is pretty freakin' sweet, because those two-hour long labs/discussions sure get awful lonely when I only have my old pal, Newtonian physics, to keep me company.
First. This morning I had theatre class, and we focused on sensory experiences, in which we paired up, with one person blindfolded and one person leading the other around campus to show the blindfolded one "snapshots." Walking without sight is pretty daunting at first, but I got to trusting my guide pretty quickly. The snapshots I got to see were of birds and squirrels hopping around campus, doing their business, along with a really green patch of ivy. I suppose the sense deprivation made the colors pretty vibrant, because I don't recall ivy ever being quite that green.
Second. I have a lot going for myself: not only do I eat three meals a day, but I also have access to hot and cold running water. Additionally, I live with four walls and central heating, I have a soft bed, and I receive a heavily-subsidized public university education. Things are going pretty awesome by global/historical standards. That said, I still kind of want to live in a yurt on the steppes.
Third. Today I added a friend. No, not on The Facebook, but in The Reality. Julie the Marine Scientist will be there for me in physics lab/discussion when I need to talk to someone about the geomorphology of islands or NPR. Which is pretty freakin' sweet, because those two-hour long labs/discussions sure get awful lonely when I only have my old pal, Newtonian physics, to keep me company.
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