The title is from one of the songs that first touches on the consequences of technology. Consequences all of us to one degree or another face.
The main consequence of this internet phenomena I see is on social relationships. A seeming inability to connect with others offline, resulting in a dependency on the computer for any socialization that occurs.
They say in life you find friends at certain times an that the older someone gets the less opportunity they have to connect with someone else. I am of "that age." I have a lot of kids, I am happily married. I don't go to bars. I am not in high school. My interests are "unusual" at best.
Most people I meet, I meet through my kids. That's what we have in common, getting slapped with a fertile stick. So when I first started the online thing I grew to depend on it for quality social interaction. I get the "why", I really do.
I however, refuse to become that kind of person. So I have forced myself to find new outlets. Classes, Pagan Gatherings (fuck you in advance, you go find any other kind of occult group in the South), etc. It has worked.
Here's the thing, I don't need a person to agree with all my stances on things to develop a quality relationship with them. I just need to know they are one of mine in some fashion. A person I can move to my inner circle.
Flesh and blood relationships are better. Period. A person in front of you who knows you, really knows you. It's messier, it's warmer, and ultimately more fulfilling than any e relationship with an e persona can ever be.
That's what bothers me the most I guess. To me, the interwebz feels cold, like I can't trust anybody to be who they claim to be. I feel like a lot of people are forgetting that with risk comes reward. Any person worth knowing is worth letting in, worth dropping a front for. How can that really happen via mega bites?
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