The price we pay for the complexity of life is too high. When you think of all the effort you have to put in-telephonic, technological and relational-to alter even the slightest bit of behaviour in this strange world we call social life, you are left pining for the straightforwardness of primitive peoples and their physical work. (Jean Baudrillard)
I recently blocked a(nother) person from my Facebook database because I found out that she has been "dwelling" in my life, so to say. I got a bad vibe from her long before I realized that she has been adding my foreign friends to her list, but I became quite alarmed when they told me that she has been "in touch". Then I started to relate things. She liked to hover in places where I did my projects without being involved in them, she constantly appeared in my homepage although I hardly looked at her profiles, then she wanted to be friends with me in all networking devices available on the internet, although in person, we never even discussed the weather. I didn't know what her intention was (my BFF was guessing that she probably just wanted to train her English), and it could be so, but I was feeling violated nonetheless. So for my peace of mind, I removed her from my friends' list. That, however, was enough to make me feel slightly paranoid, so I decided to protect my friends' privacy by not revealing who they are.
Afterward I felt tech-sick.
Now that I come to think of it, there are really so much that I miss from the simplicity of primitive life and how people used to relate to each other. Nowadays people text, leave comments about your cyber status, write on your virtual wall, send you electronic mails, and in the end, you lost the physicality of things. I wouldn't deny that technology has many, many advantages and really has made life so much easier. It certainly makes my job faster. I couldn't imagine doing this job if I have to wait 2 weeks for confirmation on concert dates from someone abroad. And Skype, bless the souls that invent it, has really made communication with people overseas so much cheaper. But still, nothing beats the excitement of receiving an actual letter, with an envelope, paper and stamp, and then to open it and devour each word scribbled so personally and originally by the sender. I sometime miss hearing voices on the telephone, even if that voice is calling to tell me that we must alter plans made. Nowadays I hear beeps on my cell whenever meetings are cancelled.
Technology has also changed the way people behave towards each other. In the old days, people don't just say hi to people on the street and ask them to be their friends. And if, say, a man say hi to you while you're walking your dog and swear on his mother's grave that you both have 200 friends in common, chances are you will tell your dog to bite him. But these days, on the world of Facebook, you accept friends' request simply because someone is friends with your friends or tell you that they saw you doing what in where at when. So? Friendship with a stranger becomes common courtesy.
Another collective madness created by Facebook, Twitter & co. is that some people really measure the success of their social life through the number of friends they have on their list and or how many followers are sacrificing their time to read their tweets. This, leads to a break out of epidemic disease called narcissism. The stadium differs between individuals, but this is the reason why these sites are so popular. Basically, everyone has the need to be renowned and recognized and they feed on this need. If you don't get to tell the world what you're doing and how your life is going, it would be pointless to join the club.
However, I know for sure that having hundreds of so-called friends can't really replace the joy of having a real conversation with ONE friend over a plate of spaghetti. I also know, that among the alphabetically listed names, my best friends are still the very few chosen ones, with whom I share real life, on- and offline, with or without Facebook. It only helps us to stay in touch, especially since we're far away from each other. But still, the best things in life are the simplest things, like giving a big, bear hug to people we choose to miss when they re-appear in our life. And these things can never be measured in quantities.
To my best friends, for whom I would give up my Facebook account if I could have them near me all the time.
