I'm really pissed at myself. I was totally against this whole "social networking" internet thing. Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Crap. But, there I was one night watching "Baraka" on Blu Ray, (which I hope makes me appear artsy and intellectual), and I couldn't help myself. 10 minutes in, I wanted to do several things:
-Tumblr a picture of the film, saying, "Wow, this Blu Ray transfer is gorgeous!" and link to the film's IMDB page.
-Update my Facebook status to say, "BARAKA--DAMN YO!"
-Twitter "BARAKA FUCKING IS AWESOME GUYS!"
Sigh. I don't think my grandparents had this problem.
Why couldn't I have just watched the damn movie and enjoyed the total experience? Why did I have to report my findings to the world before my findings were even complete?
It must be some sort of narcissistic thing inside me (and from the looks of it, most of the Internet) that wants to own the experience before the experience has even happened. How many times have I seen blog posts with uploaded iPhone pictures and captions that read:
"Whoa, I just ate this sandwich!"
or
"WHOA, I'M AT THIS CONCERT!"
Whatever happened to being lost in the experience of that concert and telling someone after the fact? Whatever happened to getting lost in the experience of that sandwich...actually that one sounds weird, but you know what I mean. I remember talking to a friend of mine at a bar. I was about to update him on what I've been up to, but instead, I said, "Actually, you probably know everything already because of Tumblr." He replied, "Yep". Our conversation went silent. So, much for "social networking".
You know that if members of Congress are Twittering away during important speeches, this thing isn't going anywhere any time soon. Sometimes it makes me sick, and I want to quit it. I want to go back to the days in which you called someone on the telephone and then met with them in person. Instead, we hunch over our iPhones and type away into a vast, black void. But, it's a drug. It's a drug that constantly tells you that you have a voice. You matter because you have a Tumblr account, a Twitter account, and a Facebook account. They all make it possible for people to see that you actually exist.
Maybe this is why I can't get too angry about all of this. There are a lot of people who Twitter or Tumblr or Whatever-r who have nothing really exciting to say. I'm sure I am guilty of this from time-to-time. Their posts consist mostly of, "Man, this job blows" or "I just ate this meatball sub." No, it's not David Lynch or Shaquille O'Neil. It's Rob from accounting, and he's "currently standing in line at Best Buy".
And y'know what, there's something kind of beautiful and sad about it. We're all just a bunch of human beings, struggling to have a voice, struggling to feel significant in a sea of zeros and ones. Not all of us are celebrities with Twitter accounts...we're just human beings who want the world to know we're alive. And we hope that technology will help our cause.
That's not so bad, I suppose.
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