Hello again my literary comrades! I'm going on quite a blogging spree tonight aren't I? Well I've had this on my mind for a little while and thought "why not put this as a post on my blog?" I literally just thought that. Anyway the point of this musing is to talk about technology.
It's quite a conundrum isn't it? I feel like technology makes it easier to hide from people and yet I'm hiding my true name and location. Eh some hypocrisies are well needed. But yes, that is how I feel. I feel like the internet and technology in general makes it easier to build up a facade. To hide our true identity and gives us a false confidence to say and do whatever we want. Take internet "trolls" for example. A good one would be the people commenting on Rebecca Black's song Friday on youtube. Now, don't misunderstand, I severely dislike that song. I do not think it is good and that it deserves all the views it has. That said, I do not like the "trolls" commenting on the video, spewing horrifying things like "kill yourself, you suck at life" or various other obscenities. Yes the song is horrible, yes she doesn't really deserve her fame/infamy (neither does Justin Bieber, but that is my opinion and can be totally debatable), but that does not give anyone the right to say those nasty things to and about her. It's a perfect example of the internet giving people a wall to hide behind and a false sense of cockiness and confidence.
It also perpetuates cyber bullying. Look at those people who've committed suicide due to cyber bullying. The bullies had the wall of the internet to hide behind. It made it easier to torture and torment those innocent victims. It's beyond anger inducing for me. I don't comprehend why someone would belittle and well, bully someone like that.
Another aspect is just plain old hiding. Texting, aim, all forms of messaging is a form of hiding if you think about it. Yes they're fast forms of communication. But they take away from a good old fashioned face to face "irl" conversation. But what about Skype and the various webcamming services you might ask? Ok fine, that is essentially like a real face to face conversation, but it's like Chuck and Ned from Pushing Daisies, they could only kiss if there was a plastic sheet between them. That's what skype and Oovoo and things like that are, a thin veneer. A curtain if you will. All of these things make it easier and easier to no longer communicate in a real life setting. And like the internet itself, all those forms of shorthand communication (how many times have I said that word now? XD) give people a confidence to say things they normally would not say in an actual conversation. Now people can break up with each other via texting, aim, etc, and the whole thing has a new coldness to it. It feels like nothing is truly personal anymore.
Don't misunderstand me, this entire musing/rant does NOT mean I do not communicate this way. I mean lets be honest, I'm now a blogger. And I text, use aim and skype, have a Facebook, etc. I use all of those forms of communication and yet I'm ranting about the enormous downside to it all. But I do like the upside to it all. Technology, used the correct way, can be a wondrous thing. It can be used to yes, communicate with friends and family that are across the state, country, the world, etc. I just despise the horrifying aspect to it all. And it makes me wonder where we are going as a society. Movies like I, Robot and books of the Dystopian genre add to that wonder of where humanity as a whole are headed in the future. What if I, Robot wasn't so far off base? What if in the future we use robots to do everything for us? And what if they do somehow form an uprising? It is all just very scary.
Ok I'm done with my musing/rant now. I am sorry if I scared any of you. :)
Until next time my comrades
Viva la literature!
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