Many people I know have mused recently, "What did we do before the Internet?" An even more compelling question to me is, what did we do before we were hyper-connected to everyone in our past and present lives? Think about your life 5 years ago before you jumped on the Facebook bandwagon. How did you survive without constant status updates, friend requests and memes?
Our lives are now everyone's business, but not by coercion. We willingly divulge little snippets of our daily lives for all to see; a virtual, one-line reality show. People who should never meet are now connected because they share a common acquaintance. Parents, lovers, ex-friends, the girl who spit in your face in middle school, your biology professor, a teaching assistant you hated, an old college buddy's aunt whom you've never met, co-workers, your boss, former students, future enemies... they all watch the goings-on in your daily life like some nightmarish dream sequence where you're naked and everyone's watching from the bleachers.
Then there are the notes. And tags. A co-worker tagged everyone from my current job who has a Facebook in a "100 Books" meme... everyone but me. My initial thought, "She musta forgotten me", devolved into, "She didn't get to know me as well as the others... She mustn't like me as much... I'll bet she thinks I don't read as much as the others... I probably come across like a real ditz... No one really likes me around there anyhow... Why don't people like me? Am I that disagreeable?" All because of a forgotten Facebook tag.
I, for one, am addicted. Judging by my "Status Updates" tab, most everyone is. For those of you who read this who may NOT be hyper-connected, answer me this: do you feel like you're missing out because you don't know when I've washed my hands after taking a shit? For those of you who are, do you feel as though you've made meaningful connections/re-connections because of Facebook?
Our lives are now everyone's business, but not by coercion. We willingly divulge little snippets of our daily lives for all to see; a virtual, one-line reality show. People who should never meet are now connected because they share a common acquaintance. Parents, lovers, ex-friends, the girl who spit in your face in middle school, your biology professor, a teaching assistant you hated, an old college buddy's aunt whom you've never met, co-workers, your boss, former students, future enemies... they all watch the goings-on in your daily life like some nightmarish dream sequence where you're naked and everyone's watching from the bleachers.
Then there are the notes. And tags. A co-worker tagged everyone from my current job who has a Facebook in a "100 Books" meme... everyone but me. My initial thought, "She musta forgotten me", devolved into, "She didn't get to know me as well as the others... She mustn't like me as much... I'll bet she thinks I don't read as much as the others... I probably come across like a real ditz... No one really likes me around there anyhow... Why don't people like me? Am I that disagreeable?" All because of a forgotten Facebook tag.
I, for one, am addicted. Judging by my "Status Updates" tab, most everyone is. For those of you who read this who may NOT be hyper-connected, answer me this: do you feel like you're missing out because you don't know when I've washed my hands after taking a shit? For those of you who are, do you feel as though you've made meaningful connections/re-connections because of Facebook?