BEWARE: Attack of the Internet Force Field

(#stolen - but giving props to the person that said this. Thoughtful words.)

"Facebook is such an unhealthy instrument which has somehow become a necessity for daily contact and expression. All it does is nurture lust, greed, gluttony, pride, envy, wrath and chronic procrastination.

I spend so much time generating envy based on a friend's exciting timeline that I don't see or appreciate the same or more blessings bestowed on me each day.

Take some time to consider this fact. Whether you are religious, spiritual or not, this is a generalized fact."

- *Jenna (Name changed for confidentiality) 

I hinted in my introduction that the internet is a big deal for this modern platform we live in. I cannot stress enough how much we use it every single day. This virtual world we consider to be truly either the mirror to our real lives or alter egos; the performance stage, our promenade to prance our lifestyles and the itsy-bitsy details (even the most irrelevant of information). Oh what a day in the future when for once, I don't have to know what time you bathed or looked at a picture of what you had for breakfast this morning. But what can I say, sometimes I kinda like the 'reality shows' that appear on my Facebook timeline.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whatever other social network site that allows such free self-expression has opened up shared information to new heights. In fact, I believe that the internet and these sites have utterly reshaped the notion: "It's a free country, I can do whatever I want!". It opened up for other countries too, favouring even my small island. I believe these sites are wonderful mediums for sharing useful information and things which can improve our thinking. I will not knock the power of social networking for providing great benefits; (heck some people get jobs from these things). Yet I really am disappointed about we treat these channels. The most trivial of things like: "What am i going to do tomorrow afternoon?" reign on our glass screens instead of "What book will i read next" or "What kind of inventive creation can I think up that can save humanity?" (exaggeration, but you get the point). 

This expansive freedom may have dumbed us down a little bit. It blurred the lines of privacy and public information. The things we post are never sacred again but subject to all manner of public conversation, whether positive or negative. Most persons seem to have held its power dear to their heart while clutching their phones to their breast awaiting the ping of a new "like" or comment. The most absurd point of it all is that we enjoy the attention these social public realms produce. We take pleasure in seeing people waste their time on forums not realizing that we too are addicted to the same type of chronic procrastination and attention-seeking ways. The internet and its partner-in-crime websites have allowed us to take a small piece of independence which we obviously have blown out of control many times. Yes, I believe it has succeeded in watching how stupidly obsessed we've become and how we have surpassed even the basic rules of authentic communication. (I think sometimes the makers of networking sites laugh at us and the things we post. I suppose however, they knew the consequences of giving us the power to lose ourselves and boy, did we give that power a 360 degree turn). I'll use T.S Eliot's notion and say that some of us at least are beyond redemption in this Wasteland.