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…that was a long dry spell. Hibernation isn’t as much fun as it used to be. In today’s world, one doesn’t have legions of loyal fans waiting until the end of time, for the object of their affections to emerge from a bat-ridden cave. They just move on to other objects.
Maybe this über-connected world doesn’t make waiting necessary. There is just so much vying for one’s affections. It’s scary. The rapidly waning and waxing world of celebrities is now a reality for the rest of us. Today if Lady GaGa doesn’t wear a dress hacked out of a piece of meat every two weeks, she will be forgotten. If relatively unknown Grimescene disappears into his batcave for a few months – the only thing waiting for him would be piles of bat-turd – which too, would eventually turn into compost. This just goes to show that once one gets used to being in the public eye, irrespective of whether one is the subject of adoration or ridicule, one would do anything possible to remain there.
I guess I always knew that… but now I have felt it. Now suddenly Charlie Sheen doesn’t look so crazy anymore. (Ok, he still does – but now maybe the craziness is slightly justified.) The social network has now become the ultimate channel for people to express their innate need to be loved and taken seriously.
Boys & Girls. Step back and just think about it for a second. Just a mere five years ago all this did not exist. People still loved you or hated you then. People still killed themselves – even if they didn’t leave suicide notes on their Facebook page for the whole world to see. Nerds were still dumped, only the dumping was not propagated globally through a status change on a social site. Zuckerberg was still a geek – just not on a Time magazine cover (wholly deserved).
How the world of social sites, tweets, status updates, blogs and wikis has irreversibly changed our life will be the subject of anthropological studies for decades to come. My suspicion is that this will eventually lead to a mass consciousness which connects us in ways which were impossible five years ago. I also suspect that the stock market will finally realize that Social Networking has spurred much larger “people” phenomenon, as compared to an economic phenomenon which is driving crazy IPOs and mile-high evaluations.
And all this may be nothing but the rant of someone who has been forgotten in his cave. I tried to fight this change and I lost. I am as much a part of this teeming social fabric which has engulfed the educated world, as the next tweet. I thought there was a larger meaning to life that a few comments from readers. I thought that I was the giver, and that I could withdraw my giving as and when I pleased. But the truth is that my Indiblogger rank just fell faster than I could say “Oblivion”. And it hurt. I know now that I am just a receiver of love and acceptance for my humble place in the social world – which is that of a mere blogger.
Final Tally:
Social Network – 1. Man-island – 0.