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Too much Internet, not enough reality.
It dawned on this writer recently just how all-pervasive Facebook and the like have become, when the subject was discussed with my other half. It would appear that she looked me up on Facebook after the first time we'd met, liked what she saw, and proceeded from there. Upon being asked if that wasn't a little stalkerish, she replied "Well, I'm a girl, I'm allowed", like it wasn't a big deal, before laughing and returning her attention to the telly.
All I could think of was how much interaction between people has changed, even in our generation. Say, even six or seven years ago, this business of stalking online would have been dismissed as Orwellian paranoia. Imagine chatting up a lady, putting the time and effort to let her know you were interested and generally worth her while... only to go home and pour over every drunken pic and vainly-posed profile snap (always at that right angle) of her online? You'd be ostracised!
Seriously though, where has the fun of romantic conquest gone? It seems that with so much of our pasts documented online, be they Facebook, or our zombie Bebo or MySpace pages; the mystery is gone. The process of getting to know someone, unravelling the layers, hearing the stories, the anecdotes and listening out for the subtleties is all but disappearing.
So what foundation have we left for our romantic lives? We can't keep each other guessing like we used to. People can't even be bothered spending time getting to know each other at the best of times these days. Yet this is how we're meant to kick off meaningful relationships? How are we meant to tell our kids we got together? "Aw, I saw this wan and she was DAYCENT so I added her". Where's the fun in that?
And what about these vanity groups that just about killed Bebo and are starting on Facebook? "XXXXX B3B0'5 GAWJUS GURLZ XXXXXXX" and the like! I mean c’mon ladies! How low does your self-esteem have to be, that you can find validation in giving that much of yourself away and only getting slobbering comments from the kind of basement-dweller that doesn't have the neck to make them in reality? I don't care how ugly you think you are, you don't deserve to be judged, like cakes at a stand. You have dignity, and deserve better.
Life-stories on a convenient news-feed, ambiguous status updates replacing confrontation and relentless voyeurism. Whatever happened to hanging out and asking each other on dates? Since when didn't talking to each other work?
By: zenarcadian
