time to speak
Been silent for a while, AGAIN, and I just thought I'd check in with everyone.
First off, I've taken up World of Warcraft. Yeah, my soul is suffering a lot, but it's damn fun, it's something I can do with my wife and my sister and some other cool people I've met online and in real life. It's addictive but whatever, so is television.
Despite hard times work is still going okay. I don't fear for my store or my job, but I do fear for the country blah blah political diatribe let's hope Obama works out.
It amazes me as I write on here how it feels, I dunno, below me or something. That's not the right phrase, and I should go back and delete it, but when writing I've always felt that it's best to just let myself puke up everything I've got and decide if I need to edit later. [Edit - trite is the word I was looking for, but I'm leaving below me because it makes me seem more of a total douchebag, and those of you who know me know how this can be the truth.]
I look around at Livejournal and MySpace and all that and it's all just a massive support group for insecure people who need to feel more important. And it's sad because, and I know this sounds cliche and whatever, but we are all important. We might not have a global impact, we might be a small piece of our individual universes, but just being a part of that universe makes us important.
It's that interconnectivity that has been lost over the years that is damaging our society. That ability for people to come together in various types of relationships - friends, coworkers, family, lovers, whatever - that isn't as honest and strong as it used to be because of "conveniences" (I just did bunny ear air quotes in my head) like cell phones, instant messages, e-mails, and online games. Years ago when I was a particularly isolationist geek I would've loved conveniences like these because it meant less human contact while still giving the illusion of human contact so I could think that I was normal.
Amazing how I started this rant with a short blurb about starting to play WoW.
Anyway, the problem, in my opinion, is that this digital age of not interacting with our fellow humans has become normal instead of dreadfully antisocially abnormal. Here I am launching a diatribe on a livejournal that a dozen people at most will read instead of jumping up on a milk crate on a street corner and shouting at the top of my lungs that we need to kill our televisions, computers, and cell phones.
And yet, here I am, thinking about playing WoW and calling my wife on my, what's that? CELL PHONE.
They've become necessities in our universes where we don't have to sew our own clothes or cook for 5 hours to make a decent meal. We needed distractions, so along came easily accessed entertainment. We didn't have enough time for our entertainments, so we had to come up with faster ways to do everything. We needed to communicate faster, stronger, better, so we invented all these contraptions that put us in constant contact with everyone we know without actually being with them conversing face to face, observing body language and drawing on emotions and energies.
Now I try to emote through the typed word. I laugh out loud with three letters. And conveniently while I do this to entertain myself I'm avoiding doing chores or playing with the cats or going out into the world and striking up a conversation with a stranger.
And it's terrible, because as our generation grows into full blown adulthood, as we become the power of our nation, of our world, me having a conversation with a total stranger would be perceived as odd or an attempt to pick them up for sex. We have a powerful, articulate, intelligent leader to our nation (FINALLY) who used the power of these contraptions to rise to power. And he used them well, because he found a way to connect with ALL of us who voted through little assemblages of plastic and wire. We got emotionally hooked, wrapped up in his words.
So can these technological marvels be dismissed? We can obviously get those emotional connections through them. You can have a deep and meaningful conversation over a cell phone. You can make someone cry with a text. Is it really so bad to not have an actual face to face conversation with a human being?
It's interesting, I wrote my subject line before I even had this rant in my head. Oddly psychic, that.
I'm not really sure what I had to say. If you're still reading, bravo to you, I'm very impressed. If I'm still on your friends list, thanks, chances are I know you and love you as a dear friend even though I haven't seen you in literally years.
I'll try harder, I really will. That's been my motto for quite some time, but as of late it's actually yielding results. And do you know why?
Less tv, less computer, less video games. Sad but true. Used in moderation, used to socialize and connect. Well... most of the time.
Love you all
P.S.
I went back and reread (and threw in an edit) and realized what I wanted to say when I started this rant. To those of you who read me that think you're not all that and a bag of chips - you are, and more. You might have your off days/weeks/months, but with the right mindset, with the love and support of your LJ support group, you can do anything your heart desires. And I truly mean that. Even when we disagree with you, even when we aren't commenting on your every entry, we're there, watching over you, and loving you from afar.
But if you don't comment on my rant, I'll hate you forever.
*smiley face*
Love and peace
First off, I've taken up World of Warcraft. Yeah, my soul is suffering a lot, but it's damn fun, it's something I can do with my wife and my sister and some other cool people I've met online and in real life. It's addictive but whatever, so is television.
Despite hard times work is still going okay. I don't fear for my store or my job, but I do fear for the country blah blah political diatribe let's hope Obama works out.
It amazes me as I write on here how it feels, I dunno, below me or something. That's not the right phrase, and I should go back and delete it, but when writing I've always felt that it's best to just let myself puke up everything I've got and decide if I need to edit later. [Edit - trite is the word I was looking for, but I'm leaving below me because it makes me seem more of a total douchebag, and those of you who know me know how this can be the truth.]
I look around at Livejournal and MySpace and all that and it's all just a massive support group for insecure people who need to feel more important. And it's sad because, and I know this sounds cliche and whatever, but we are all important. We might not have a global impact, we might be a small piece of our individual universes, but just being a part of that universe makes us important.
It's that interconnectivity that has been lost over the years that is damaging our society. That ability for people to come together in various types of relationships - friends, coworkers, family, lovers, whatever - that isn't as honest and strong as it used to be because of "conveniences" (I just did bunny ear air quotes in my head) like cell phones, instant messages, e-mails, and online games. Years ago when I was a particularly isolationist geek I would've loved conveniences like these because it meant less human contact while still giving the illusion of human contact so I could think that I was normal.
Amazing how I started this rant with a short blurb about starting to play WoW.
Anyway, the problem, in my opinion, is that this digital age of not interacting with our fellow humans has become normal instead of dreadfully antisocially abnormal. Here I am launching a diatribe on a livejournal that a dozen people at most will read instead of jumping up on a milk crate on a street corner and shouting at the top of my lungs that we need to kill our televisions, computers, and cell phones.
And yet, here I am, thinking about playing WoW and calling my wife on my, what's that? CELL PHONE.
They've become necessities in our universes where we don't have to sew our own clothes or cook for 5 hours to make a decent meal. We needed distractions, so along came easily accessed entertainment. We didn't have enough time for our entertainments, so we had to come up with faster ways to do everything. We needed to communicate faster, stronger, better, so we invented all these contraptions that put us in constant contact with everyone we know without actually being with them conversing face to face, observing body language and drawing on emotions and energies.
Now I try to emote through the typed word. I laugh out loud with three letters. And conveniently while I do this to entertain myself I'm avoiding doing chores or playing with the cats or going out into the world and striking up a conversation with a stranger.
And it's terrible, because as our generation grows into full blown adulthood, as we become the power of our nation, of our world, me having a conversation with a total stranger would be perceived as odd or an attempt to pick them up for sex. We have a powerful, articulate, intelligent leader to our nation (FINALLY) who used the power of these contraptions to rise to power. And he used them well, because he found a way to connect with ALL of us who voted through little assemblages of plastic and wire. We got emotionally hooked, wrapped up in his words.
So can these technological marvels be dismissed? We can obviously get those emotional connections through them. You can have a deep and meaningful conversation over a cell phone. You can make someone cry with a text. Is it really so bad to not have an actual face to face conversation with a human being?
It's interesting, I wrote my subject line before I even had this rant in my head. Oddly psychic, that.
I'm not really sure what I had to say. If you're still reading, bravo to you, I'm very impressed. If I'm still on your friends list, thanks, chances are I know you and love you as a dear friend even though I haven't seen you in literally years.
I'll try harder, I really will. That's been my motto for quite some time, but as of late it's actually yielding results. And do you know why?
Less tv, less computer, less video games. Sad but true. Used in moderation, used to socialize and connect. Well... most of the time.
Love you all
P.S.
I went back and reread (and threw in an edit) and realized what I wanted to say when I started this rant. To those of you who read me that think you're not all that and a bag of chips - you are, and more. You might have your off days/weeks/months, but with the right mindset, with the love and support of your LJ support group, you can do anything your heart desires. And I truly mean that. Even when we disagree with you, even when we aren't commenting on your every entry, we're there, watching over you, and loving you from afar.
But if you don't comment on my rant, I'll hate you forever.
*smiley face*
Love and peace