The seven dwarfs whistled while they worked; but is it necessary for people to tweet while they do business? To email during dinner or to text while driving? We have trained our internet to go without strings. Untethered, in a world without wires where everyone has the smart phone, the laptop and the Bluetooth required to be constantly connected. But what is the downside of a phone that is never off the hook? Of a world where no one can actually be away from their computer? We are at the brink of technological telepathy and yet we fill the broadcasts with only our skeletal thoughts and undeveloped opinions. But is it better to talk with an unfiltered stream of consciousness than to think before we speak? Do we need to re-learn how to stop thinking out loud? Should communication ever become a distraction?
Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to both the U.S. House and the Senate, said that “one of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little.” And from these words, spoken at some point during her service between 1940 and 1973, it would appear that the Senator was considering the social media outlet while she developed her statement. But, in truth, she died in 1995, well before Facebook was to ever become the media monster that it is today. Can you imagine what she’d have to say about these same problems still plaguing our social sphere today? Now there are websites like Twitter and Facebook, which were intended to make people more informed, but have only managed to show how little insight people have to offer when given the opportunity to bombard the public sphere with unfettered remarks and mindless chatter.
We now live in a world where it isn’t strange to see most of the coffee house customers sitting alone at a table for four, carrying on as if they were in a group discussion. It is probable that they’re chatting online, since nobody is actually in solitude just because they aren’t around other people. It has become increasingly apparent that people will remain consigned by their established circle of friends, and uninterested in the other people, if they are always within their immediate social sphere. There is no reason to make new friends or to chat with strangers when thirty friends are available to chat online. It just seems that life is pushing more so toward a life on the internet, and less on a presence in the real world.
For instance, my younger cousin had told me he was worried that his date didn’t like him, since she was so busy chatting with her friends on her cellphone, and not holding any conversations with him. Only later, when he checked Facebook, would he find that her status had been updated several times, reporting how much fun she was having on the date that she was too distracted to thoroughly enjoy. This issue of broadcasting oneself, playing one’s own paparazzi, has made it better to share the pictures on the internet than to live the moment for mere personal enjoyment.
But it’s undeniable how beneficial and revolutionary the concept of social media is, as well as what it can offer the voice of the masses. The only issue here is that people need to consider what they are telling everyone, and if it is at all necessary for them to share the information. Our global economy depends on communication; and yet the most efficient and economical form of it has been inundated with status updates containing fifty tweet narratives about a random visit to the dollar menu. We need to realize that not everything matters, and most of the time, it is better to simply enjoy life rather than wasting our time telling everyone that it’s enjoyable.
Image courtesy of Lanier67:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lanier67/194274460/
Image courtesy of Miss Karen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/misbehave/2352753067/
