Monday May 21st, 2012 – Fox Lake, IL
Is the internet a good thing? I’m still not completely convinced. Parts of it are nothing short of a modern day miracle. It’s the single most dramatic leap in the communication process since the printing press, and has completely revolutionized modern life as a whole. That’s the good news.
The not so good news is that most of us don’t need all that and never did. We were absolutely fine before our entire world was set on its ear without us asking for it, but now we’re all forced to get on the internet bandwagon whether we want to or not. Those who don’t are sadly lacking.
I’ll be the first to admit, life is passing me by and I can do nothing to stop it. It was difficult to keep up before, but now it’s downright impossible. Who has time to stay current with everything that’s happening these days? I know I don’t. I feel more lost every day, and it’s very frustrating.
No matter the subject, there are now countless websites devoted to it that make it only a button touch away. That’s very convenient, but is it for our own good? It used to require digging deeply into the bowels of our local library to find certain tidbits of information. Now it’s all right there.
Is that a good thing? It’s convenient, that’s for sure. But is it in our best interests as a species to have everything so effortlessly available? It sure is the recipe for us to get fatter, lazier and not to mention dumber - which we totally are. One would assume that it would be completely opposite.
We’ve got all this knowledge at our fingertips, but do we use it? No, we’re too busy surfing for more pornography or putting up flatulent Facebook posts telling everyone on our list what we ate for lunch or showing the latest pictures of some relative’s cross eyed cloven hoofed demon baby.
Who the hell cares? I sure don’t, but I have more than 4500 ‘friends’ who constantly post tripe like that on a daily basis. And are those people really friends? I’ve met quite a few over time, but to call them friends is a bit of a stretch. Some are fans. Some are acquaintances. Some I have NO idea at all why they would want to be associated with me, but alas there they are. It’s a mystery.
I know I sound like my grandpa, but I think he would have hated this by now. He was a student of human nature, and liked to get out in public and meet people belly to belly. He was very social and knew how to engage people – especially total strangers. That skill is shrinking by the minute.
Who gets out and interacts face to face anymore? Not many. What’s the purpose? Kids can put on a headset and sit at a computer screen and play video games with other kids around the world. On one hand, that’s about as cool as it gets. On the other, it’s amputating our basic social skills.
It’s totally killing my business. I used to be able to count on making at least a passable living in the live entertainment field, but that’s shrinking by the day with You Tube offering every last act in history who has ever darkened a stage to anyone who dials it up on a computer – FOR FREE.
Granted, the convenience of the internet is fantastic. I love sending emails and keeping in touch with friends all over the world. But it gets to be too much at times, and I’m overwhelmed with all that’s out there that I’m supposed to be keeping up with regularly. I just can’t do it, but who can?
1 comment:
"He was very social and knew how to engage people – especially total strangers." - you are right, that's a skill and not many people do that ... I do, and sometimes I get cross eyes and crazy looks from people who are so taken aback from my actually going out of my way to talk directly to them - MOST of the time I get them to smile, to laugh and sometimes they end up sharing a personal story with me! It's never a disappointment to go out into the public and just experience life. I could do that all day long. My kid might be the same way some day. :)
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