Deeply Superficial

"Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don't seem the same"

There was no way I was ever going to convince my parents that Jimi Hendrix's music was good. More than anything, the youth culture was defined by its music. The chasm it created was called "the generation gap" a metaphor for the ideological differences that separated us. There is a new generation gap. It's not defined through music or politics or fashion, those ideas are shared much more among the generations than before. This time it's about privacy.

"Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you"
(Every Breath You Take by Sting, 1983)

My generation came of age thinking about "1984", the looming threat of "Big Brother" watching over all of us all of the time. It was the government or some group which would monitor all of our actions, know all our habits: who we associate with, what we watch, what buy.

1984 came and went. Nothing like "Big Brother" happened unless you count Apple computer's historic "Big Brother" commercial which ends with the slogan: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984". They were right - 2009 is.

Personal details used to be considered private. We were careful about who knew what about us and certainly didn't post pictures of our friends, families and fantasies for all to see. Privacy does not seem to be valued anymore. Giving up one's privacy has become a rite of passage. It's what you leave at the portal when you sign up for any of the social networking sites on the internet. The sites are free - as long as you don't calculate the value of your identity, demographics, viewing and buying habits to advertisers. This isn't new, the Nielsen Ratings service has been assembling viewer information since the 1950s for television advertisers, but its methods were primitive in comparison to the two way constant information gathering that's done on the internet.

In March 2009, Google initiated the use of "behavioral targeting", which uses information collected on someone's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual. Social networks are constantly harvesting huge amounts of data that has tremendous value to advertisers.

When Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million, his intent was very clear: they signed a deal with Google in 2006 for $900 million to provide a search engine and advertising on MySpace. Although the founder of Facebook claims to not be in it for the money, my guess is their venture capital partners are - that's why investors go along for the ride.

The internet is like an amusement park, there are rides that get lots of attention then fade in popularity as something newer and faster shows up. The newest attraction on the fairground is Twitter.

Twitter's promotional material states, "Real life happens between blog posts and emails - now you can share". Share what, I'm not sure, because if you are twittering away the time between blog posts and emails you would still be missing out on real life - so what are you twittering about?

Although Twitter has been around about as long as Facebook, in the last six months its profile has blasted off the charts and embedded itself in pop culture. While Obama was giving his first major congressional address in February, some members of Congress were shown twittering - juvenile and impolite but phenomenal publicity for Twitter. It seemed impossible to not hear about Twitter, most recently culminating in the blitz about Ashton Kutcher becoming the first Twitterer to reach the one million follower mark, followed by CNN and Britney Spears in third place. You can't buy publicity like that, but you sure can annoy the hell out of a lot of people who are wondering what has happened to our culture.

According to Twitter's Privacy Policy, they have the right to collect personally identifiable data about its users, share it with third parties and retain the right to sell that information if the company changes hands. Twitter's founders claim they want to get the model right before they attempt to monetize it. That could be why Twitter's vocabulary is about "followers" not "friends".

The next technological step towards "Big Brother" is called "geosocial networking" or "social discovery service". Companies such as Loopt, Google Latitude and Pelago are offering cellphone based GPS social sharing so people can constantly update their friend's location and find out what they are doing.

Pelago's mission: "We foresee a world in which human behavior in the physical world is digitized, like human behavior on the web is today." I have no idea what they mean.

As a part of an online social network you can meet, establish and end a relationship without ever actually meeting the other person. This used to be called having a "pen pal". Technology has created the opportunity to develop hundreds, even thousands of pen pals in a very short time and connect them to form a social network. There are many tips and techniques available for sale to those who want to obtain huge friend lists, therefore becoming quite popular, at least online. Online you can create yourself as a celebrity, defining your success by the numbers you accumulate. Celebrity is the phenomenon of being known, not necessarily for accomplishing anything worth knowing.

The younger side of the generation gap is very loose with their privacy requirements, but very tight with how they try to project their image because they know all their "friends and followers" are watching. They communicate differently than we on the other side of the gap. Text. Twitter. As we have become more wired, networked, looped and linked, we've become more detached from that which makes us human - emotion.

Technology has given us so many more ways to communicate but we seem to have less to say. No conversation - it takes too much time. In an effort to be unique, the quest has become gathering as many friends or followers as possible, most of whom you have no real knowledge of. You can only ask "what" not "why" - anything more becomes an obstacle to the rapid aggregation of numbers. A "Friend" is not a verb. Communication has become deeply superficial.

Comments

[Joey Belmondo]

I wish that for one month, computers and cell phones and television would just disappear from the face of the earth! I would realy like to see how people would react then! Im sure alot of people would go crazy, but it would be good for everybody!

I grew up without a TV and without a computer! What did i do instead? i read books, i made art, i kept my mind active! and i am so grateful for it now!

So it would do us all a favor if the "SCREENS" would just disappear for a while!

[Jeff Holden]

While I saw glimmers of truth in some of your observations, I very much disagree with your conclusion, which is unsurprising, since I am the founder and CEO of Pelago. :-)

You are not the first to take a dim view of this cultural revolution we find ourselves in, just as many saw only the negative in the advent of rock and roll. Characterizing this new era as one marked by loss of privacy, and especially invoking the "1984" reference, I would argue, is off-base -- they imply that people's privacy is being taken forcefully. A new level of sharing feels closer to the mark: people are opting into the new social ecosystems because they appreciate the value that is created.

I believe our mission (which you misquoted -- it is "To remove all barriers to information, inspiration and human connection.") at Pelago and the purpose of our product, Whrrl v2.0, exemplify the more optimistic view well. Whrrl allows people to share their everyday lives in story form. It certainly represents a step up in sharing for our users, but what we've found is that it brings people much closer together in a very real way. And people are inspired by the adventures of others to think about things differently, to try something new, to break out of life ruts.

I see so many signs that micro-sharing is improving life for people and I see so much potential for the future, as the online social ecosystems evolve.

[3fingerbrown]

I'm glad we finally have those agonizing minutes between blog posts and e-mails accounted for. But how are we going to fill those long, lonely seconds between tweets?

[mommadona]

Twitter is deceptively simple - like Lao Tszu

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
Lao Tzu

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."
Lao Tzu

See?

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lao_tzu.html

[leanandsuperfit]

The telephone made it possible to talk to someone without seeing them. It doesn't mean you never will meet. The Internet has made it possible to get to know people without meeting them. It doesn't mean you never will meet.

Over the 12 years I've been on the net I've met thousands of people in one way, shape, form or another. I've gained what I believe are remaining-life long friends with only a handful. It's mindboggling that I now have some amazing, true, meaningful friends that I met first through SOME communication via the net.

We all sift and sort our way through the clutter. We meet, hang out with or call as our true friends only a few. It's only natural. Facebook and Twitter won't stop human nature -- the sifting and sorting will continue.

I only recently joined Facebook. I'm there to network my business--not my every thought and daily behavior. And that's why The Huffington Post is there. Other technology makes it possible for me to create my one meaningful post each day and hit Facebook and Twitter and more with ONE POST. Time wasted? For business? I'd say absolutely not.

I don't need another "friend." But if I can spend five minutes a day networking my business to hundreds or thousands of people I wouldn't have reached and, even accidentally, should I gain a friend as solid as my friendship with you Jeff? I'll take it. It'd be an amazing bonus.

[Steven Wolfe]

My emotional responses have actually been enhanced. I laugh more based on the witty postings I view, reflect more about others' lives, and I am actually prompted to pick up a phone more readily if I can reach a particular person. Furthermore, I don't think the younger generation is very loose with their privacy requirements, they just have a faster way of communicating, that if were available to any prior generation, would probably be embraced in much the same way.
At the end though, I am still myself conflicted with the balance of sharing; but that's mine to determine. A colleague (whom I met through LinkedIn) said to me that if I don't want it on Google's search results then I shouldn't post it. That's the bar to some degree, because the internet is not private anyway. Even in a "secure environment" our data is being stored, indexed, and easily retrieved at will every time we log in.
Mr. Madoff, your blog is living proof that this is not superficial. I found out about this post via an RSS feed to my Loopt group on LinkedIn. I posted it on Twitter and I am simultaneously posting it and my comments to Facebook and my personal Blog (Google). It's not superficial. (2 of 2)

[Steven Wolfe]

I've often thought about this phenomenon over last several weeks since I joined Twitter, Facebook, and Loopt (thanks to the Apple's iPhone - the other part of the phenomenon). One thing is true in my opinion, it's that we are opting in to this by our own free will. We are essentially embracing Big Brother, not running away from him.
However, I don't agree with the conclusion that we have less to say. Rather, we have less time to say it (e.g. 140 words or less which I will probably exceed in posting this). What these tools have enabled me to do is communicate and reacquaint myself with people that I otherwise would not have the time to do (extended family, former classmates/colleagues, etc.).; thereby, the relationships stay warm rather than grow cool with the passing of time. We are able to stay up-to-date with each other's lives that we otherwise would not be able to do, without investing greater expense (additional time and money). As well, I am extending my network and finding similar interests that I share with others (professional and personal). My life is simply too busy and I can't see everyone in person, face-to-face. When possible, I make every effort to connect in person; but there are only 52 weekends a year to share (assuming of course that all weekends are free). (1 of 2)

[ramblingjohnny]

I think that the big deal about twitter is not about sharing with you what I ate for diner. But interesting website, Blog post, YouTube video that sort of thing. In a sea of uninteresting data twitter is an easy way to flag the few Perl we find every day for other to discover.

[GrainOSand]

Prior to the 2008 election the Internet had served as a reference tool for technical information or a method by which one could collaborate with colleagues from a remote location. I have always written my personal thoughts. I think it does a person good to let their thoughts out of their head. I do not Twitter or write Tweets, I do not use Facebook, and I still question my rationale for writing here in light of teachings from long ago about ideas and changing minds and the need to be silent where it concerns people’s beliefs and opinions (volume of commentary not withstanding...I speak and think in volumes as well so the amount I write is no indication of anything).

All of that said, the type of expression afforded/stimulated on a blog site is not superficial. I think when people respond to a story they are expressing their view of the story in the context of the real life they are living. Now, one could be living a life of fantasy and denial such that anything expressed is a reflection of that, but if I were to discuss that tendency I would undoubtedly be writing for a long time. ((-:)

[GrainOSand]

II
Within blogging environments I read uplifting accounts of real life lived and heart wrenching accounts of real life suffered. I see blogging as live journaling. I see it as making yourself vulnerable by sharing your thoughts, so that you can grow, and if it shall be, so that you can contribute. You will be attacked. Your principles will be judged and a ruling is always rendered. It is instant feedback on thought. Such feedback can provide a spark or cause a ripple of meditation and/or inspiration which serves to bolster and advance individual effort and cause in the ocean of existence, of being.

The world has changed, is changing, and will change some more. The hardest part of technology implementations is change management as it relates to the user population. The monetizing of the Internet will shake out as will the unnecessary services. It is just a matter of use/exposure over time. The Internet bubble was caused because there was a mad rush for E-business (E-help, E-bank, E-fortune telling, E-coupon, E-shopping). There was a lot of E, but there was, in far too many cases, not enough business as in sustainable well thought out business plan. (Hmmm, sounds just like subprime; a bubble is a bubble is a bubble).

Anyway, that which is superficial, by definition will not last. It is a self-correcting problem. Time of eventual demise may vary, but certainty of demise remains strong.

[pundit27]

actually, twitter reminds me of video press releases in the 80s, a new, shiny tool that uses a relatively new technology to incrementally update a more mature function for commercial communication -- but likely nothing more. . . .