I have to wonder, is there really anyone out there? Are we all so disconnected from each other that we have become nothing more than Avatars living our lives in our own subjective reality. I do remember a time when our connections were made in person or on telephone. There was always something special about a warm handshake or a cherry, “How ya doing?” You worked harder on being a friend, then. Relationships were important. We were politer then—more concerned about how we dealt with other people. When did that all change? When did we stop speaking in complete sentences? When did it become acceptable behavior to be rude? When did this new form of social interaction take over to condemn us to isolation?
About a year ago, I ventured into the world of social media. My publisher said, “It’s how you promote your book. Get with the program!” “Really?” I said, absolutely innocent of the ways of modern social interaction. “Well, how hard can that be?” I asked naively. “Try it, you’ll love it,” was the texted reply.
So off I went to the world of Facebook, and LinkedIn, Google and all the rest. Now, I even Tweet for fun and profit. I learned to blog and to capture my thoughts in essays that no one ever reads. But, then that’s not entirely true, every once and a while someone will comment on something I wrote, so I know that people actually do read my simple words. (Very few admittedly, but enough to keep me writing.)
However, this whole social media thing got me thinking. Sure it’s fun, but it does not and cannot come close to the connectivity that comes from real person to person contact. Don’t get me wrong. I love hearing from people that I haven’t heard from in ages even if it is the Facebook “poke” thing. (Does anyone but me ever wonder how a poke could be a kind and caring act?) No matter. Yes, it is grand to hear from long lost acquaintances, but that feeling cannot compare with the sound of a live human voice in an an unexpected phone call or the loving touch of a person right there next to you—a person that you can see, hear, smell and feel.
Everywhere I go I see youngsters sitting at a table in total silence while he or she engages in a texted conversation with a person across the table. In meetings, in school, in church—everywhere people are texting out into the great cyber world of uncaring eyes. I have to view that as the epitome of a Greek tragedy. It is much ado about nothing as the Bard would say. All the while the real world spills forth opportunities for life, love, and adventure—all missed because we are so absorbed in our alternative reality.
The saddest part is that our virtual world brings an anonymity which some people use to spill their venom and write things for release to the internet that they would never say in person. Our disconnection breeds a loneliness that isolates completely.
Does this mean I intend to stop the social media? Of course not. I truly love it. But, I can’t help looking back and remembering a simpler time–a time when people were more connected. I am writing about it because I am afraid that it will be forgotten as we enter our brave new world of technology.
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