I just read an essay here: http://blogs.northlandchurch.net/2008/11/19/perceived-connection-actual-isolation/
Okay, well I'll confess, I read part one. I did not continue after that. The writer's thesis seems to be that our online connections are not "real". Writer tells a story of 2 people who go into a coffee shop, fire up their computers, and chat with each other, neither of them realizing they are both physically in the same coffee shop while they chat.
Okay, I guess that's funny.
But crimeny! What's the big deal? Let me give some "historical perspective" here. I dig into genealogy. I also like to read "old" books. I know a bit about days gone by. People WROTE LETTERS.
ALL THE TIME.
That is all we are doing, kids. We are able to choose friends who don't live near us nowadays perhaps -- people we find interesting == people maybe who share our interests, or broaden our horizons. We know they are real people! We are NOT "isolated" (as the essay I read thinks we are) when we share ourselves with people through our CORRESPONDENCE.
Sheesh! Just because we have a "new" word: Blogging ... or Chatting ... or IMing --
Dude, it is CORRESPONDENCE! Humans have been communicating this way since before the printing press was even invented.
We just do it "in real time". And I LIKE that.
Deviating only slightly from this theme -- my husband made an interesting comment today. Talking about his sister when she first got married (20 years ago or so). He said of her and her bridegroom, "They didn't have time to psychoanalyze. They had a farm to run."
Okay, maybe that's deviating a lot from the theme. I see I'd better tell you why this latter comment seems connected to the beginning of my blog here today.
I think sometimes people gripe too much about the wrong things. And I think sometimes people "buy" the song-and-dance that we are all so isolated these days, sitting in our own little spaces, able to communicate with people almost everywhere. DANG! That just simply is NOT what I call "isolation".
My grandparents' grandparents were isolated. If they moved across the country to settle the Michigan wilderness, they maybe NEVER got to communicate in real time with the folks they left behind them EVER AGAIN.
Shoot, my sister even chatted with her son when he was in the Navy ON A SUBMARINE!
Gotta love this century! Quit psychoanalyzing!
Now for your laugh of the day: This is the link that first sent me to the website where I read the essay I have here blogged about. I got this one in an email today, and it is HILARIOUS!
The Mom Song- LIVE from Northland Video on Vimeo.
http://blogs.northlandchurch.net/2008/08/11/the-mom-song/
It is called "The Mom Song"
ROFLMAO at The Mom Song. So great and so true.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, we are communicating, and this is writing, too, just like writing fiction or poetry or anything else. For the long version, see my response to Zee's latest blog. I gotta get ready to leave for Austin in the morning....
Will go check out your response to Zee's blog.
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Austin! Happy Thanksgiving!
rotflmao sooo funny
ReplyDeletehave a nice turkey day
I had pen pals before I ever heard of computers as a very young girl an never thought of them as not being real to me all my on line friends are very real .Love the blog an the video is a hoot.
ReplyDeleteSure we all like face to face conversation, but this is great as we have met many people like us or who open new horizons.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we cry together, laugh together, share thoughts, recipes, you name it.
I am concerned when I see my online friends getting in awkward situations as I do with my physical friends and families.
A lot of the time, the people here are closer than 90% of my family.
Sure, we all get caught up in spending too much of our idle time on line, but hopefully it balances out.
I see the very lonely here, sometimes want to just get them of my contact list, but then realize, 1 comment a month means something to them, even though their posts are of no interest to me.
I find it hard to share my heart and passion most of the time, so I need to be really riled before I do.
Will I stop, I doubt it, just come and go as the mood and opportunity strike me.
I am in agreement with everyone here, and w3atching the video, reminded me so much of my mom when I was a kid ... except she couldn't sing. Huggers 8=)
ReplyDelete(posting the video on my page, twas great!)