RROTD – 11/5/2013

Un-Social Networking?

It amazes me that in all the ways there are to personalize our phones, we are actually removing from our lives all traces of being people.
While we can all undoubtedly tout the innumerable ways in which technology has improved our lives, I cannot help but also look at the countless ways which we are also becoming less and less “human” because of it. It has been both a significant improvement and a ruthless master.
Look around you, tell me how many people you come across in your day to day activities that do NOT have a phone in their hand. Ask yourself, of all the people you have in your cell phone contact lists or Facebook “Friend” lists, how many have you actually SPOKEN with in the last week? How many have you seen face to face in the last month? How many do you actually truly personally KNOW? My bet is the number of those people will be very very low.

The act of Learning and our strive for knowledge is no longer passionate…if we desire to know something we simple “google” it rather than going out and participating in the learning experience. Almost gone are the days of spending hours reading an actual paper BOOK, going to a library, a museum, a zoo, etc. All we want to learn about can be found online with little to no actual effort involved. What is Life without effort, experience, failure, success, interaction with others, learning, passion, etc?
Take texting as an example:
Human experiences shape who we are, we learn by Doing, by putting forth the effort to fully engage in LIFE as we move through it. We learn by touch, sight, sound, smell. When we have a conversation there are numerous clues we use to gain an understanding of the spoken words. When texting, there is no conveyance of feeling, no emotion, no facial expression, no tone of voice, etc – just words on a screen and we assume to understand them..sometimes we’re correct, sometimes not. If those words are something of importance, shouldn’t they be conveyed in a more stable environment to prevent all misunderstanding? Actually speaking to people is becoming a lost art apparently.

Flash back: Who can remember the intense, palm sweating, fear of talking to a crush for the first time on the phone? The sound of a voice shaking with nervousness? Now, if you like someone, you “friend” them or “stalk” them on Fakebook, you send only the best pictures back and forth, you text them…all of this without ever actually having to get to KNOW the person they are. They probably look like shit in the morning just like you and I but you’ll never know that because you only see the “approved” pics. The ones which show our best sides. God forbid anyone should be REAL anymore right? A lot of diamonds in the rough are out there but may never be found because they didn’t post a spellbindingly perfect picture of themselves on Fakebook.
It’s sad. You don’t have to actually interact with Anyone anymore. There are no risks, no consequences, no experiences, just random words that you may or may not have the courage to say should you be standing in front of them. Online bravery at it’s best for those not willing to take the chance of possible rejection (another fact of life- rejection – little fear of that anymore).

We have “friends” who we have never met, lives with little to no substance outside of a computer/cell phone screen, and we very very rarely ever look up from those screens long enough to notice the world around us. We take the “easy way out” to everything anymore and that is nothing less than a shame.
Relationships of every kind have dwindled down to involving as little human contact as possible.
Facebook as a perfect example: “Facebook Marriage” is a trend amongst teens these days…What in the F@#K is that? Or “Post this on your wall and see what people rate you” – Really?? Here’s a thought: Go out and BE someone, interact with other human beings, participate actively in something away from your computer screen..then maybe your life will be so much better that you won’t give a shit what a bunch of “strangers” on your friend list “rate” you because your TRUE friends will know how valuable you already are.
Look, I know social technology, social networking have their many advantages and I’m not against it all. I just wish that people would remember how to be human beings again. Get up from their computers, go outside and enjoy life, breathe fresh air, FEEL what it’s like to be alive. The world is constantly changing around us and if we don’t get out from in front of these damned screens, we will miss so much