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I can use facebook and as you know from the amazing pictures on my blog, I am not all that familiar with how to do much else other than copy paste and write rude words in paint.
I kind of love and hate technology at the same time.
The Mystery is gone
Are you ever out with a group of people and somebody asks a question and instantly somebody gets out their phone and googles the answer? before the Internet was that easily accessible, even just a few years ago when it existed but nobody really had it on their phone, you could all argue about the answer and it would be a fun guessing game then eventually you'd get home and check on line and text Dean and say "Fuck you Dean! Shawn Mullins DID sing Shimmer so suck on that!". Now it's like people don't even give themselves time to have that interaction because the answer in in their back pocket- wheres the fun in that?
"Shawn Mullins 'shimmer' was on the Dawsons Creek Soundtrack Dean! How could you not know that? Don't question my knowledge on the creek!"
People are more confident behind their keyboard:fact
Have you ever reconnected with somebody online and thought "Fuck! this is great, we get along so much better now that we did in school, they used to be so difficult to talk to but now they are totally lovely, we should catch up!" Then you see them out and you KNOW that they see you but their gaze is clearly being diverted on purpose so you walk off thinking "what a wanker" and then you get a message later saying "Did I see you today?"??? Yes you saw me bitch, you know you saw me.
You know that facebook 'friend' that likes and comments on every single post you write on facebook but the second you suggest hanging out, they have an excuse not to... Even though you know they will just be online all night wanking and playing words with friends.
The confidence of the keyboard is another one of those things that I love and hate about technology.
I hate that you can deliver awful news via text because you're too cowardly to see the response...that's not to say that I haven't done it (whoops)...I should edit that to I hate being on the RECEIVING END of a text filled with awful news.
I write much better than I speak. The words in my head often don't form properly before I have the chance to say them and there is no 'edit' button so for that reason I think it's great that I can write words rather that speak them when I need to... but technology enables us to be really ignorant of how our words might affect somebody. I mean seriously you could send your boyfriend/girlfriend/transgender-lover a text that says "you're dumped" and take their lack of reply as them just taking it really well. For all you know they are having an "I got dumped party"...except probably not or it would have come up in their facebook events.
Geeeeettting to knooow yooooou getting tooo know aaaall about you
I've never seen the King And I but if you had and it was your favourite movie, I could probably tell just by looking at your facebook GREAT SEGUE MICHAELA.
It's kind of scary how much information about you can end up visible via social networking. Even if you don't have a facebook profile, which lets be honest would not apply to a lot of people... say your friend has one and your friend is the type of freak that doesn't just check into fun places to be like WHADDUP WORLD I'M AT SEA WORLD. I'M ABOUT TO PARTY WITH DOLPHINS but also feels the need to check in at work and the mall and bed and the toilet.
Firstly: What the fuck!
Secondly they decide to write "at the mall with [insert your name here]"...(I'm choosing the mall because I hope you are not in the toilet with your annoying friend because the fact that they sign in EVERYWHERE in the presence of other people speaks volumes about their character and I doubt they even have time to wipe their bum between tweets so that is NOT the kind of person you want to share a cubicle with ya know? )
Anyway DESPITE the fact that you chose not to be a social networker, your friend has now told all of his/her 9977 friends that they are at the mall with you...Oh! and their friends list includes that weird dude from Subway that used to stalk you so bad that you had to change your number and make up an elaborate story about how you moved to Iceland to study puffin in their natural habitat. Well now he's at the mall and he wants answers! ...subway guy not puffin...oh if only it were puffin
PLEASE THANK YOUR STUPID FRIEND THAT I MADE UP FOR PROVING A [pretty poorly assembled] POINT ABOUT HOW THE INTERNET IS DANGEROUS AND GIVES OUT TOO MUCH INFORMATION ....
BUT ALSO CONTAINS CUTE PICTURES OF PUFFIN
OOOOH DOUBLE EDGE SWORD
The hard part is gone
(said ya mum)
How much easier is it to ask somebody out on a date via text or facebook than it is to ask them to their face or even on the phone? In the same way that breaking up with somebody via text is easier because you just put those words out into the world and don't have to see the persons face.
I have mixed feelings about the hard part being gone.
Once when I was out with a guy, instead of just kissing me, he sent me a text, asking if he was allowed to kiss me...it was kind of cute but it sort of eliminated that suspense that leads up to a kiss y'know?
And I think the suspense is what social network sites take away. What makes getting to know somebody exciting is that there will inevitably be awkward moments and trying to skip past all that kind of feels like cheating...like reading the last page of a book and I think when you do that you can miss a lot of the good stuff.
I'm not saying I'm about to chuck out my phone or stop checking facebook on my lunch break but I like the idea of arguing with my pals and waiting until I get home to check who sang that song and just being somewhere and enjoying the company instead of feeling like every moment needs a status update to prove that it happened. I like the idea of finding out somebodies favourite movie when they tell me and not when I read it online. I like the idea of somebody wanting to spend time together rather than comment on my status and most importantly I like the idea of a world where people don't need a facebook check in to tell everybody when they go to the toilet.
