Sometimes I wonder what has happened to others.
It used to be quite a mystery, of course: people would leave our own circle of living, leave our own geographic area, and then would disappear off the face of our known earth. Perhaps we would hear of them from a friend of a friend or a relative, but they had effectively moved beyond our own orbit. We might picture where they were or what they were doing, how their lives had gone.
Now, of course, we have the Internet. And Facebook and Linked In and 40 other ways to keep in touch with other people. And yet, I still find myself wondering what has happened to others.
Oh, I can find them of course. They will pop up as soon as you search for them. But all it is now is a carefully crafted image, what one wants everyone else to see.
To be fair, I do this as well. My "On-line presence" (sounds so official) is in some ways very different from the way I would present myself in my more personal space. Part of it is essentially image management - after all, everybody (including your company) can find you now.
But the mystery is gone, in a way. No longer does one wonder where those others are or what they have done. It can easily be found out - or rather, the image can be found out. But them, who they were or who they are, has become submerged beneath that image.
Which makes it sadder, in a way. Before one had to imagine. Now one has the outer image without the core.
It strikes me as strange that in this world of interconnected technology, we find ourselves more isolate dfrom such memories than we perhaps ever thought possible.
Modern life has become an illusion. People hid behind "profiles" and avatars. The truth is held prisoner behind what is actually broadcast on the "news," and the images allowed out of our halls of government. Better to stay in the real; to keeps one's eyes on what is going on that "more personal space. For these are the things that will most immediately affect our futures and our survival. These are the things which will be the litmus test of truth...
ReplyDeleteI suppose it just makes me sad Pete. Your comment about profiles and avatars is well taken. We are so much less than we used to be; we value the actual so much less than the perceived.
DeleteTB - i know this to be true about some individuals. however, individuals that i have met through our blog and then maintained regular email/telephone contact with proves this to be untrue. thank goodness. some people really are who they seem to be online...and i hope that me and jambaloney come across as real...our online presence is a somewhat true representation of ourselves. our online presence never mentions fights or arguments...but then we don't have any? the minute we have one...i'll put it up on the blog...it would make for an awesome post i think!!! but our problem..which isn't a problem at all, is that we got together later in life than most people. i was 30 when i met him and he was 35...i knew that i wanted him more than anything in the world and it wouldn't have mattered if he disagreed... i would have just kidnapped him...i know i am a romantic at heart - bahahahah! kidnapping being romantic and all! we worked for years to get to this place of heaven (filled with blackflies for the best 3 months of the year) and we both love it here...minus the blackflies. so i like to think that our internet presence is real. and i like to think that some of my other friends' internet presence is real.
ReplyDeletei think that you are still too much under the stress of your job and the stress of your family to really come out on the internet. but your post from the other day about practicing your sword work in the evening with the fireflies...posts like that make me think i am reading the "real" you.
hope this makes sense in some way. sending much love. your friend,
kymber
So I think your experience holds true of most of the folks I have met through my blog as well. Yes, both you and Jam come across as real people (Jam actually comes across as a mechanical jack of all trades genius, which he seems to demonstrate at ever turn. So much fun to see pictures).
DeletePerhaps it is that those who I am thinking of are, at least for my experience, not that way. Not that they are bad people or anything, they just have a managed personality or even that it is something that we shared one time and it is not something that we share now. I can get that as well - people change, relationships change, what we are willing to share with others change. Change happens; it is just sad to me sometimes, that is all.
Thanks for the second paragraph in total. I do not really know how to respond except I think that to be the case as well; the problem is that I am not sure what would happen if that guy actually started showing up; the world I seem to live in now is not one that he could thrive in I think.
It does make sense; thank you so much for you kindness in posting it.
Super much love, TB