The Phenomenon of the Social Site

The phenomenon of the social site has grown beyond comprehension. We now twitter, have face book, myspace; flickr for photos and do and have all the Twitback, Twitterbacks and Twitterimages we could never hope to find in any life time.

Our world has become so entrusted of our devices that even on-line people talk about how disconnected they are. Where are the park side romps, the family outings, picnics?

People today have lost the desire to extend a hand. To reach out to find common ground found many times even next door. How many of you know your neighbors? Could you go borrow the proverbial cup of sugar?

Have we so lost the need for human interaction, I mean real person to person interaction that we now are willing to settle for the imitation world of cyberspace to satisfy the human need for companionship?

In a not too distant past, people actually when out to dinner, had family affairs where they invited other guests into their homes or all went to an event that all enjoyed. Contact with another was how humans interacted.

Teenagers would lie around for hours talking on phones with dozens of friends who couldn't begin to imagine writing all that they had to say to friends. Picture imaging would have worked at any age, but the writing would be for the birds. But today, we can't imagine not being able to write all those words.

Today, to be without a blackberry, a phone, or some type of communicative device that has picture capability, text applications, is web friendly and can fit easily into a pocket would be like a man in the dessert with no way to get water.

We have come to rely so heavily on our devices that when the humanoid computer stands next to us asking how to serve, it will be a natural transition. Our devices do our bidding now and answer our call when we speak.

They remotely keep track of our business, our family and our daily lives. Without the machines, a day could not be normal. We would feel lost in a place of our own creation.

I enjoy technology. I want all the gadgets and paraphernalia that goes along with them. It feels good to be connected... to a global community. It gives one a sense of belonging to a world unit. And each one of us now, is connected to that whole.

But have we given too much freedom to the new age? Do we rely too much on the devices that hold our lives? Will we eventually trap ourselves into that Machiavellian world of 1984 and forget that once we had control?

Now most of us do not even think when we twitter, use myspace or text that message on your blackberry. You do it out of habit and allow the intrusion in your life with pleasured annoyance.

We forget that it's an intrusion. Remember the days when cell phones were new? How irritating it was to hear them go off? That was taken care of with the ear-bud so you could be annoyed now in private. Intruding into the day, in our heads.

Intrusive yes. Invasive, even more. Technology has invaded our world like the aliens we fear. It has crept up upon us like a thief in the night and taken away any concept of living free of its constraints any longer.

We are hooked. Like the silly commercials on television that tell us of the alien's evil plot to take over the world. And we smile and laugh like it's all a big joke.

The invasion is real and it's not from some alien off this world, it's the technology that's in it!

And it is ingrained so deeply into our way of life, that I wonder, if we'll ever find a way out.