I manage five web sites, four blogs, one MySpace profile, two Twitter profiles, teach three online college classes, send out three email newsletters, run one Yahoo group and one Flickr site for fellow alumni, get about 1,000 emails, mostly junk, and 10,000 total visitors at these various sites each week.
With so many digital networks running in and out of my life, why do I feel out of touch? I am one big social network and yet I feel entirely antisocial.
The other night two MySpace friends said they were bored. Is that all this is? Boredom? I think it’s more than that, at least for me.
Remember when being connected meant having the family over for Sunday dinner, or going to the beach with your kids? Or playing cards in the kitchen til late at night with another couple, having a laugh and losing maybe 2 bucks?
When did I stop going out for dinner with normal, healthy grown-ups who could talk about politics or sports and not throw food at each other?
When did the women in my life all end up 20 years younger than me and have social histories that would make Britany Spears look like Mother Teresa?
When did I suddenly stop drinking good Cabernet and honest Chianti and instead decide that vodka on the rocks was a suitable dinner drink?
When did I start thinking that every TV news anchor, commentator, blogger, and political pundit was a whore, 20 IQ points dumber than me, and pathologically narcissistic?
When did I start defining my life by my favorite scenes in movies or a dozen old songs that I can’t remember the words to anymore?
When did I stop using language to reveal the hidden life of my soul and the lives of others, and instead start scribbling 200 word monologues about nothing on blogs that most people don’t bother to read, or if they do it’s just to tell me I’m full of shit.
I must be breaking some social networking rule because I haven’t read too many rants here about people feeling disconnected, out of touch, and totally baffled by the way things have turned out in this totally wired world.
It must be me. Old Rake. The Teddy Bear waking up from his long winter nap a little groggy and cranky.
Beckett said, “I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”
Rake says, “I can go on, but I won’t.”
Instead, I’ll go checking my blogs and web sites and email accounts like a tired lobster fisherman, slowly cruising over the dark waters, wondering what I’ve caught at this hour of the night.
Most likely, it’s just dead fish and an old pair of sneakers.
6 responses so far ↓
Jo // May 6, 2008 at 12:55 am
there are others who feel disconnected and rant.
Thanks for giving voice to those too tired or verbally challenged to speak for themsleves. sometimes the best way to stop being alone is to talk about to the world at large(or small) how alone you are
David Schleicher // May 6, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Wow…you took the thoughts right out of my head. How ironic is it that social networking makes you more antisocial? I always wonder why do we need to be so connected ALL THE TIME with cell phones and texting and blogging and the internet. We all need to take a collective breath.
Rake Morgan // May 6, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I think I’m losing a bunch of readers with this non-political personal stuff. But WTF. That’s what was on MY mind this weekend.
It is funny, though. Back in the mid 90s when the Internet was still a non-graphical environment for most of us, I remember lecturing business students about the fragmentation of media and that eventually it would become a one-to-one connection. We’ve gotten pretty close. For marketers, that seemed both terrifying and the Holy Grail of target marketing. I thought it would be a GOOD thing, which is why I have been on the Web for so long. It’s just frustrating to have all these “connections” that seem to be personal turn out to be something quite different.
Knowing David Schleicher on the web is not the same as sitting down and having a beer someplace and making fun of all the politicians and TV reporters.
Want a beer?
David Schleicher // May 6, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I think you hit the nail on the head, Rake.
Queen Elizabeth // May 10, 2008 at 2:48 am
Old, lonely & disconnected Rake. What a sad piece. Readers? Really.
Rake Morgan // May 10, 2008 at 10:24 am
I sm surprised you have time to come here and comment, Elizabeth. I thought you had a pretty full schedule molesting little boys and pushing old ladies down stairs.
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