He's 22ish, and from the seat before me I can smell the apathy dripping off of him. I'm not old (yet) but there seems to be a disconnect through the decade of age between us. He's trying to be subversive, casual cool...but in his eyes I can see something I don't like.
He's interviewing for a job, and he doesn't give a damn if he gets it or not...so why waste my time? Why waste his own time? Are we at a crux where people no longer care about the value of time?
Sort of...
Because in his eyes I see that his interactions are regulated to 180 characters or less, simple frozen moments of status updates and tweets...pictures that were taken to show exactly how much fun he was having 32 seconds ago, even if he wasn't enjoying himself at all. It's the Facebook Generation. They scan your conversations and interactions for that zinger to post in a minute. I don't think they know they're doing it, but they are subconsciously diciphering what to share.
I remember in high school the subtle shows people put on...the posturing they did to appear tougher, cooler, et al. I knew them then as posers...and this new generation of Facebook Posturing seems to be allowing this show even more so, because there isn't the day-to-day reality of proving oneself. I fully believe in self invention, of making yourself something better...but really, there's a huge difference between actually reinventing yourself as something better andposting pictures of yourself and your "terrific life" while hiding behind the computer.
The problem with posturing on facebook is that if you're never responsible for who you claim to be, you never actually live. You can post all day long...and update status of every benign, uninteresting facet of your life...but until you have to be responsible for the person you're claiming to be, you never actually live up to the potential.
We're digital, I get that...it's the trajectory we're on and it's not going away. There's a lot to be said about the digital life, a lot of great things, one of which is the ability to connect with you, to connect with my family members spread far and wide. But if all I am living is the digital life, I am just a poser, just like the obnoxious guy in High School that couldn't fight if his life depended on it, but struts around and hopes no one challenges him.
As for Mr. Apathetic, he's not getting the job. He won't care...and later he'll probably post on FB that some corporate bitch (me) isn't open minded enough to see his brilliance. 29 people will comment below him re: the 1%, corporate culture sucks, how bourgeois the workplace is anyhow, etc, etc. He will forget about it as soon as the status is too far down the page to care about it...which is, what, like...an hour?
The generation that naturally reaches for their smart phones to update facebook don't yet realize that they have no privacy, that nothing is sacred. Maybe they don't yet care...but they will eventually. And if they say they don't care...they're lying. It's part of being a poser.
Skeptically yours.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Social Media Immigration
I learned something today---which above all things is a goal of mine that often enough doesn't materialize. I like to learn things, even when they are small and trifling. Or better yet---when they seem small and trifling but aren't.
Social media isn't new, or really even that groundbreaking. It's an old concept of creating a circle and sticking to it, expanding when evolution says it's cool or wise to do so, keeping it closed when things should stay status quo. This can be exemplified by almost all species...gorillas mate when it's time to do so, and they keep to their little pack (or whatever it's called in gorilla-circles, I'm not a zoologist.) However, if there is a new guy on the block, he can challenge those other gorillas in the circle for dominance and win "entrance" to their society, i.e: the right to breed with that society's female.
It applies to almost every group. Humans have just invented some buttons on our social media sites to take the place of a grueling battle with giant horns or hooves or teeth. So less blood, but the idea...well that's more or less similar.
There are two types of social media folks: immigrants and natives. So...you are either "entering" this already established world or you were born into it. It's an expansion of the evolutionary idea of societies and how they're shaped. I am an immigrant for the first time in my life. Unlike my 5 and 3 year old neices, I was born into a world where email wasn't my "go to" communication. I was 6 before I touched a computer...and does Oregon Trail really count as "computer use"? I was in highschool before my family got our first computer all equipped with AOL and "ready" for the internet via dial up.
These days, the Social Media natives are born with this stuff pre-programmed. Dial up is hysterical to them. HTML is completely out of date. In other words---this is their sphere. They already speak the language and all of us outsiders are learning about it, speaking it---but it isn't fluent. It's forced. It feels like...being in Spain and knowing how to say "Donde esta el Bano?" and then searching while the person giving you directions in Spanish speeds ahead. A la Derecho? Wait, is that right, or left?
Just like I don't understand why Justin Bieber matters, I don't understand how these folks can spend all day and all night adjusting their twitter feeds. But...it's cultural. I am not "from" this country of Social Media. I vacation there. I almost fit in.
But not quite---because I am an immigrant. I've tried this whole melting pot thing and you know what...it's never going to be quite for me. It's outside of my sphere of influence, my sphere of comfort. We all have our monkey spheres (see http://www.cracked.com/ and read it) and this...well...my people are on there but our level of use and integration isn't quite there because we're all immigrants sitting in on a "social media as a second language" course.
To me, its a semi useful tool and it has its value, but it's not my life. Natives completely disagree.
But of course, they are out of my monkey sphere.
Skeptically Yours.
Social media isn't new, or really even that groundbreaking. It's an old concept of creating a circle and sticking to it, expanding when evolution says it's cool or wise to do so, keeping it closed when things should stay status quo. This can be exemplified by almost all species...gorillas mate when it's time to do so, and they keep to their little pack (or whatever it's called in gorilla-circles, I'm not a zoologist.) However, if there is a new guy on the block, he can challenge those other gorillas in the circle for dominance and win "entrance" to their society, i.e: the right to breed with that society's female.
It applies to almost every group. Humans have just invented some buttons on our social media sites to take the place of a grueling battle with giant horns or hooves or teeth. So less blood, but the idea...well that's more or less similar.
There are two types of social media folks: immigrants and natives. So...you are either "entering" this already established world or you were born into it. It's an expansion of the evolutionary idea of societies and how they're shaped. I am an immigrant for the first time in my life. Unlike my 5 and 3 year old neices, I was born into a world where email wasn't my "go to" communication. I was 6 before I touched a computer...and does Oregon Trail really count as "computer use"? I was in highschool before my family got our first computer all equipped with AOL and "ready" for the internet via dial up.
These days, the Social Media natives are born with this stuff pre-programmed. Dial up is hysterical to them. HTML is completely out of date. In other words---this is their sphere. They already speak the language and all of us outsiders are learning about it, speaking it---but it isn't fluent. It's forced. It feels like...being in Spain and knowing how to say "Donde esta el Bano?" and then searching while the person giving you directions in Spanish speeds ahead. A la Derecho? Wait, is that right, or left?
Just like I don't understand why Justin Bieber matters, I don't understand how these folks can spend all day and all night adjusting their twitter feeds. But...it's cultural. I am not "from" this country of Social Media. I vacation there. I almost fit in.
But not quite---because I am an immigrant. I've tried this whole melting pot thing and you know what...it's never going to be quite for me. It's outside of my sphere of influence, my sphere of comfort. We all have our monkey spheres (see http://www.cracked.com/ and read it) and this...well...my people are on there but our level of use and integration isn't quite there because we're all immigrants sitting in on a "social media as a second language" course.
To me, its a semi useful tool and it has its value, but it's not my life. Natives completely disagree.
But of course, they are out of my monkey sphere.
Skeptically Yours.
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