The Sheer Arrogance Of It All

11/09/2008 20:10:00

What arrogance is it that inspires people to feel the need of a presence on the web? How dare these people think that I might be interested in their photos and their musical tastes, let alone their tawdry, rehashed opinions. Do these people feel that we live in a world which ignores them and there is a vain hope that somewhere out there they have a benevolent audience? Or, is it the sheer anonymity of it all? Maybe I can feel less inhibited on the web. Maybe I can hide behind the boundaries of e-mail and the delete key, so I have less need to check my inner monologues and can allow them to spew forth in a wild gush of enthusiasm and bullshit.

Why would I need to Facebook with people I haven't seen in twenty years and who I vaguely remember from school? Am I so void of real friendships that I deem it necessary to collect 2000 'friends' on MySpace and feel popular? Out of those 2000 people, who of them am I really going to know and how many would I really consider worth knowing? Surely my 'real' friends are up to scratch? And why would I want to Twitter people and let them know how I feel at every moment of the day; indeed, do I really have time to record everything I do or feel? We are getting into the existential realms of Sartre. Do I have to be so philanthropic in this new social order that everyone I know has the right to my whereabouts and my emotions. All the more, are they all so bored with their own lives that mine must be more interesting?

Perhaps my outlook is too old fashioned and I am severely out of style with the modern World. I would much prefer a quiet beer and a natter with a friend in a local pub, that falsely believe that the entire World is at my fingertips. Real people are much more exciting that a disconnected conversation via a computer screen. In real conversations, people can still lie to you but you have the advantages of being able to read the subtleties of his voice or the nuances of his facial expressions. What's this? Am I going to decry the amazing technology that is the phone? Don't get me started.

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