Now that we are in the Internet Age (I think we can finally christen it as such, with some sort of special ceremony), we must continue to figure out the nature and dynamics of this world. As I have said more than once (but not in this venue), the Internet is like a massive social science experiment without any experimental controls. It continues to plow along, a daily mega-tsunami of messages, developing its own rules and expectations along the way, and changing the way we relate to one another and do things. And if you think about it, all of this has basically happened in just the last 10 years--to coin a new phrase, "in the blink of an eye" (remember that one--I think it will catch on). I really don't think we can say what impact all of this will have; I can't quite picture the electronic world in the year 2028.
However, I can say that with the advent of this instantaneous and wide-reaching medium of communication, there is a funny aspect that's hard to know what to do with. On the one hand, the Internet is available to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and once people hear about something, the buzz can be intense and put people in a very scary fishbowl. I am thinking of poor Miss Teen South Carolina, who gave one of the most inarticulate answers ever to an interview question at a "beauty pageant." (If you haven't seen it, it is a hoot and worth 30 seconds of your time--just go to You Tube and hit "Miss Teen South Carolina.") This little slice of life has been observed by millions of Americans, both on-line and on something called television. And this 30 seconds of her life will stay with her probably forever--someone in 2028 will be able to call up this embarrassing moment in her life and play it once again for the grandkids. So that's one side of things.
On the other side, there are thousands of people out there who are bloggers, for example (gosh, I wonder who he is referring to here?) who continue to record their thoughts on-line. Now, many of these various bloggers' thoughts are not "great thoughts," but they are a hell of a lot better thoughts than those of Miss Teen South Carolina. Yet, most blogs, I'd be willing to bet, have audiences that can easily be counted on one's hands, or maybe one's hands and one's feet. (Although I've found that hash marks on a sheet of paper is an easier way to tally things; you don't have to take off your socks.) These people continue along in a totally obscure way, talking mainly to themselves. In my case, I could be sitting here totally naked, hurling epithets left and right (and those suckers can be tough to hurl after a while), doing all manner of anti-social things, and nobody would notice. So, quite ironically, we have this "modern" style of communication that's lightning fast and efficient and enables us to communicate with....absolutely nobody. Somewhere in there is a postmodern idea.
I haven't figured out what to do with this weird dichotomy/disparity, but like Sisyphus, I'll keep blogging along, howling into the wind, hoping that I say something that's memorable but won't make me the Laughing Stock of the Western World. At least, I think I know (unlike Miss Teen South Carolina) why many who live in this nation cannot locate it on a world map. But let her give you the more amusing answer!
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