Tech Frenzy: whaaaaat?

Living in "real time" has become an alternate form of reality. We can have virtual identities in Second Life, Computer games, video games, facebook, twitter, and on and on it goes... I've posted before, defending Social Media, using it to build community.

The thing is there comes a time when our need to share our lives online overpowers our need to live with those who surround us.

Today I sat in the pub with some friends watching the Wimbledon final and I looked up to see all of them staring not at the giant HD projector screen in front of us, but at their phone and ipad screens... Excuse me? What!?

In the midst of having community, saying comments to one another wasn't what their hearts were into, but commenting to the internet and reading others' comments and enjoying the online joke... that was more important...

I'm not going to say twitter isn't important. It's definitely changing big games across the world. President Obama has used Twitter more than once to motivate citizens to tell Congress what they want... most recently  NOT to double student loan interest rates. Twitter is a great way to engage young voters and get them involved in politics...

But I think many people mistake the idea of being famous or popular with the idea of being good. Yes those things can help you do good things by gaining support. Recently Oatmeal writer, Matthew Inman has raised something like $90,000 for cancer research on this online comic website. His popularity opened people's pockets.

But on the other hand, how many times have I seen people waiting for a table at a restaurant, the entire family checking their cell phones, people on dates checking their cell phones, people together with their minds and hearts so far apart, as if reality only existed online. If it didn't happen on facebook, it didn't happen.


Online technology is a great way to motivate people, to communicate and to stay in touch with loved ones... but let's not forget the people right in front of our faces in the process or forget that we can communicate in ways other than #twitter.