I think the internet is cool… no wait! Scratch that! The internet is futher mucking damn cool as hell!!!! The A-Team is amazing for inventing the internet!! OK So the internet wasn’t invented by the A-Team but it was invented by an elite group of people so I am going to assume that’s the friggin’ A-Team! MMkay?
The internet is probably one of the greatest things ever invented! Better than the wheel! (See I don’t drive so I don’t give a rat’s ass about the wheel)
So this being said, I have something very very very VERY important to state…
Now I live on the internet. When I’m not on my Macbook or my iPad, I’m on my iPhone tweeting up a storm! I think I am way too connected as it is and all my internet life is based on a life that is going on outside of the world wide web. It shouldn’t be the other way around.
I see these people who only live on the internet. When they speak they talk about their conversations with people they have never met and they think these people are their real friends. I know you can make connections with people via the web through skype and other services and you can be sure they aren’t a 45 year old man with a chicken wing stuck to his face that is four weeks old and his left hand in his pants.
So here is my question for you… Are these REAL connections?
Can a virtual connection be the same as one you can touch? Can you really get to know someone via the web the same way you can in person?
When you are on the web you can be a character. You can be a better version of your self by showcasing you good side. People don’t see the side of you when your world is crashing down around you, the side you show when you feel real sadness, and the side of you when you are blazing mad.
I know I am me on the web… well… minus a few zits here and there. What you get here is real and I take a lot of pride in that. There isn’t much a keep private aside from my love life (Not my dating life! LOL) You get my bitchy ranty side, my happy go lucky side, my sad side, and so on. Sometimes it offends people but hey, I’m real as hell. Are you?
Now I am not saying everyone should be like me. If you are a private person, that’s cool. I could care less.
Back to my point…
Life is about balance. If you are going to have a stake in the internet and leave your mark you can’t sacrifice your real flesh life. How far is too far? When you lose all your social skills with real breathing people. If you can’t relate on the physical plane what is the point of being on the virtual one?
I have met so many people that lose all their friends and connections in real life because they spend way to much time on the internet. You try to hang out with them and all they do is talk about their internet friends, their internet games, and such. When you bring up a subject based on anything real, they are like deer in the headlights! What kind of life is that to live?
Privacy is a huge buzz word in the media right now when speaking about the internet. Maybe addiction should be the new buzz word. If you are putting all your private information on the internet and you are worried about the world seeing it, there is something wrong with that picture. Why are you putting all your deep dark secrets on the web in the first place? Is it because you don’t know where to draw the line? Is it because you are so addicted you can’t help but spill your guts to the world? Now, do you have the right to complain about privacy?
See I don’t feel like I would ever have the right to complain about my privacy on the web unless someone else posted something private about me. Are people so paranoid about their privacy because of their addiction?
I am an internet addict. I don’t think I could go 24 hours with sending and receiving some serious data. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. What bothers me is these people who are socially inept in the real world and you make connections with them via the internet to only find when you meet them in person they are a shell of a person. They have maybe one or two friends that they know in person and they can barely handle that! So please! I beg of you! Don’t become one of those people!
My challenge to all my blog readers is to get out!
Go out into the world. Make real connections with people. Live life! Then! …and only then… Report to the internet everything you just did! Turn things around! Live life and enjoy every second of it! Because to turn into a virtual person is sad and I don’t want that for anyone!
♥ Shawnee
