disruption

This morning, our internet died. It died, and momentarily disrupted the peace of life as I know it. I was SO MAD at our internet for dying. I was on the warpath. I called the cable company. I whined. I roared. I demanded an explanation. I can't remember the last time I was that angry about something.

Seriously, what is up with that? It made me realize that I am ridiculously dependent on technology. When my cell phone died once, I was ready to kill someone. I suffer from a little disorder called Technology Entitlement. I feel ENTITLED to a cell phone that calls people. I feel ENTITLED to working, non-dead internet. When did that happen? I know there was a period in my life when I had neither cell phone nor internet, and I was happy as a lark. At what point did I turn into a raving lunatic that can't function without wireless internet?!

This little debacle reminded me of an old entry from Blog 1.0 about this very issue. Enjoy!

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Superficial Intimacy
August 29, 2006

I've been rather troubled lately that the only way I keep up with my friends is through the computer. It seems like such a superficial medium. I mean, I have all of your phone numbers, so why don't I ever call you? In that arena, at least I could hear your voice and picture your expressions in my head and recall a time when we actually met face to face. So, why is it that we only communicate online?

Its not only the lack of human contact that disturbs me. For the most part, modern friendships are based on stalking. We all have webpages, blogs, mySpaces, Facebook pages, etc. where we post information about ourselves as if we are rockstars with fan clubs dying to stay posted on our every whim. And its true! Because any time I get a free moment on the computer, I'm reading your Xanga, I'm posing on your Facebook wall, I'm looking at the photos you've uploaded. I am STALKING you. And its disturbing. We all do it. We treat our friends like they are our fan club members. And we stalk our friends as if we cannot call them up or go to dinner with them when we want to know what is going on in their lives.

Many of us do not even email anymore. Oh no, that would be too personal, too "I care enough about you to spend a few minutes writing a message for your eyes only." Email has become obsolete in the era of message boards. We communicate with our friends by leaving comments on their blogs. These messages become really an advertisement or extension of ourselves because we know that everyone else will be reading our personal correspondence. Look at me! Look at what a clever person I am! I have something HILARIOUS to say to my friend and you are so lucky as to experience it as if it were addressed to you personally! We use these forums to proclaim to the universe our opinions (I really can't believe she said that about me), our status (yeah, we broke up, but I'm really ready to move on), and our comings and goings (we're all headed to the union, you should come). Its like we are all our own publicists. Anything that I want the world to know about me, I can post on a friend's blog. Or my own.

Certainly, there is an incredible usefulness to these kinds of sites. My friend Summer (hi Summer!) is in grad school in Boston, and I love reading her blog to catch up on her life. However, that should not stop me from calling her. Or visiting her. And I think I will.

Call your friends today. Take them to lunch. Then you can post pictures of it on Facebook and we will all enjoy.