So I've finally seen The Social Network. Was anyone else weirded out by the fake twin brothers? Even if they were real, and I'm not stating either way since at this very point in time I haven't bothered to double check the credits, it just weirded me out. That and the fake cold breaths. I guess that's a good sign that my only two gripes are visually and not anything else remotely connected to storytelling.
It did make me wonder though. Since Facebook and Twitter, all we ever seem to do is check, and double check, and refresh our lives every five seconds to see what everyone else is doing. Now I'm not the first person to pick up a phone and start ringing people in the dead of night, or the middle of the day, or any time at all for that matter. Why? Because I don't. I have no reasoning for it, I just don't. It's not something that I do. I'll never understand why myself either.
What I CAN do, however, is check in on facebook (sorry, Facebook ... it needs a cap F now, it seems) and see what the word on the street is. People doing social activities, posting videos, redirecting people to other people, and so on and so forth. It's socially normal to sit at a computer and type out what your life is about instead of talking it over or sending a postcard. Not that anyone does that anymore. You can just point people at a photo of where you're staying online, then blog about how nice it is, saving you a few handful of dollars on flimsy cardboard that takes two weeks or longer to get wherever it's going.
Oldschool. Bah humbug.
But back to my point. We're so in tune with technology, where does it end? Our society of misfit children growing out of their violent video games and sexy attire into a corporate and virtual reality driven universe, driven by the need to always be aware of what's happening within each millimicrosecond, and eating chocolate off the back of lizards.
That last part might not actually happen.
What's bugging me, though, isn't about where our future may or may not end up at. It's that we already think we're there, and those that don't believe in technology criticise it, just like those who didn't believe in nuclear power did, just like those who didn't believe in television did ... we're a never ending cycle of new ideas that grow and grow until they can't grow anymore, replaced with something else that does the same.
Maybe there's a modern day miracle waiting in the wings that will provide with an out clause, the ability to leave technology behind and rediscover what it means to live. For now, we're stuck here. Just here. Typing away madly trying to manufacture the next big thing in order to survive the rat race. Me? I just want to write to keep myself sane. Think I'm doing a good job?
Oh, and for the record, The Social Network was good. I await it's sequel, The Twitter Emporium, with much interest.
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