I just read a quote whilst reading a news story about how the teenagers of today (yes, this includes me) are addicted to the internet. The article talks in depth about the way people, mainly young people, feel the need to tell all about the way they live, almost to the point of living a life through the internet. I once met someone who said 'Google me baby', strange I know, but I took note of the persons name and later Google'd them. Lo and behold, I found many sites this person was on.
The quote from the article went something like this...
'Kids today. They have no sense of shame. They have no sense of privacy. They are show-offs, fame whores, pornographic little loons who post their diaries, their phone numbers, their stupid poetry—for God’s sake, their dirty photos!—online. They have virtual friends instead of real ones. They talk in illiterate instant messages. They are interested only in attention—and yet they have zero attention span, flitting like hummingbirds from one virtual stage to another.'
I can fully understand this statement. I do have friends who I only know on the internet and who I have never met, I write blogs, have an online diary, I almost constantly update my Twitter feed with whatever is on my mind. Thinking about it, I guess I do have no sense of privacy. I let people know what I feel and think, people who I have never met in my life. I would probably go as far as to say the things I discuss on the internet and 'reveal' about myself, I would not in reality. Not all from that quote is correct though. I do not seek fame, I do not post naked pictures of myself, I do not talk in illiterate instant messages (except maybe when I am having a day where I can't seem to write in English no matter how hard I try). I do actually have 'real friends', I do not however show-off.
There are people that do. I know of people that do all of what was said. With the click of a button I can access a profile of a friend who ticks practically all of the boxes. There are photos of the person practically nude, a number to reach that person on, an email address, a list of places they will be going soon, where they have been, where they live and who they live with, I can see who they are in a relationship with, how they feel, what they are doing and have done. I can fully understand why the person who said this thought what they thought.
It is strange really. If I think of something funny, if I am doing something, if I am listening to something... I feel the need to write it down, to let people know. If I read something I find interesting I will write about it (use this as an example) and if I am pissed of at something I will vent it out on the internet. It is, almost, as if I have no privacy. When I thought about it though, this to me is not a bad thing as such. I choose what I want to communicate, sometimes who I want to communicate to. I am not forced into telling people every small detail about my life, every single thing I think. I choose to reveal certain things though. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons.
When I write in blogs like this, I know straight away there are few people who will view what I have to say. Very few people. On Twitter I only have 72 followers, I have a locked account, I have a chance to check someone out before I let them read what I have to say. In another blog I have, there are but 10 people who I allow to read it. My point being, what I have to write is never written with the intention of everyone reading.
I know for a fact very few people do, and so why do I do it? Certainly not fame, and certainly not attention seeking. It's simply a way of getting things off my chest, clearing my mind or communicating a thought. Facebook is for my friends and family. People who I know and have met. It is simply a quick way of letting people know how I am getting on, finding out about what other people are doing and how other people are and a way to stay in touch. Before I had the internet, I would keep in touch through a text message, or arrange to meet someone through a text, Facebook to me is simply the new text message, a way of keeping up to date with people i may not be able to see. Is that wrong?
On the topic of meeting people on the internet and the mention in the quote of 'friends' on the internet, I understand how to many it can seem weird or wrong. The newspapers are often full of scare stories of people meeting up after talking on the internet, of people who have fell in love on the internet to then finally meet the person in reality and find they are not what was expected, later to be found dead. I can understand why some of the older generations or people in general who do not use the internet often, or at all, can come to the conclusion that every other person on the internet who you have never met is a pedophile, rapist or murderer. I can, when something is shown in the media and reported upon often, it is easy to believe by many.
The point is though, it's not true. Yes, there are people who may be like that, but the majority of people are just normal people, much like myself, much like anyone else. The good thing about the internet is being able to talk to people and discuss with people topics you could never discuss in reality, or be able to talk about things no-one you know in the real world like. Its a place to find someone who has something in common with you, often when you cannot where you live. This can be used for bad, like everything anything can be exploited, but most of the time its used for good.
Theres a book called Blind Faith by Ben Elton which explores and predicts what could happen if we carry on the way we are. Its not done in a completally realistic way. It has many elements of humour, drama and crazy theories that seem ridiculous, but the underlying theme of the book explores the way we could be if we keep revealing everything about ourselves. One message the people in the story convey are "only perverts do things in private", and the law makes sure every little detail about every person is recorded and made possible to view, even to the point of giving birth. People obsessively blog, revealing everything they think and feel, people show their lives through webcams... sound familiar? Maybe we do not do it to the extent of the people in the book, and we are certainly nowhere near, nor do I think we ever will be to the way the people are in the book, but we already have bloggers (am I included in this?) who obsessively blog, and we have Vloggers who obsessively vlog.
A point made in the article I read was that the internet gives people an audience. Its true, if you are reading this now you are essentially an audience, if I read your tweets and your blogs, if I view your videos on YouTube, if I have access to your various sites on the internet... I am part of your audience. We are all now public figures in a sense.
In the same way we can follow what a celebrity does, we can follow what anyone who is on the internet does, permitting they let us. The internet is a chance to say anything you want, essentially and in some cases be who you want... people have control over what they want people to know, some people even adopt an alter-ego, a new identity, and they can live that out on the internet often without ever being caught, or some people share the fact they have alter ego's on sites like second life.
As I stated before, all of this CAN be used wrongly, is used wrongly by some people and like everything can be exploited, but it does give people a chance to escape. Something which stands out for me is the fact that people are in general more accepting of you on the internet, there isn't that first impression as such, that first view of the person where in your mind you judge or are judged. It still happens. Someone could see my picture and call me an emo, they could read this blog and say whatever they want, but they would not know me and know what I am like without first looking into what it is I am saying or what I communicate... when in real life often people judge far too quickly and write people off without giving them a chance.
One of the most interesting things the article brought up was the fact that your life can essentially be seen in years to come. Every tweet I post now I can see in years, and that will be a documentation of what I was doing on a certain day, at a certain time, these blogs could be viewed and I can see how I felt or thought about something, my Facebook page will have pictures of me as I am now. In the same way, anyone who has access to these sites I visit now and update on a regular basis will be able to do the same, potential employers could easily access this blog and see what I was like, new friends could do the same.
The truth is, we cannot really say how this will effect the people who do it now in the future. We may all relish the fact that we have documented our whole lives, we may love it that even when we go the things we have thought our whole lives will be alive still... or on the other hand there may come a time when many of us who go through the aging process will want to shut the curtain and leave all this behind.
Many older people I know simply don't understand or can't understand why we do what we do. In the same way I'm sure there were people who were alarmed and didn't understand when telephone calls took over sending letters. Its a change, a transition. Practically anyone a similar age to me, and many much older and younger have Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Twitter and endless other accounts on endless other sites, and this is our change, a change overall. We have no way of knowing what will be next, or how this will effect us when we age.
The future generations may have something new that we don't understand... and this is my point, that quote is ignorant to the fact that with time and technology changing, people change, the way people live changes and in essence everything does change.
To quote the article once more, and to finish this blog:
'The real question is, as with any revolution, which side are you on?'
Oh, and blink your eyes silly now because those white lines will be there a while (you will see when you look away from this page), don't worry though, it wears off soon enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment