Social Networking and Social Disconnect

I haven't really written in this blog in a long time -- a lot because of time constraints, a lot because of laziness -- but I somewhat promised someone I would give it another shot, and so here it goes:

Yesterday, Twitter was down. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, Twitter is a social networking site which essentially allows people to post short little blurbs about their lives (for example, "I am going to the grocery store right now" or "I'm working right now"), and people read them and are, or act, interested. As I perused CNN.com today, there were no fewer than three separate articles dealing with the fact that people were unable to use their Twitter accounts. While some people laughed the incident off or merely found it an interesting commentary on their dependence on technology, a choice few members were actually deeply disturbed and distraught over the loss of their ability to socially network.

To be honest, news like this initially makes my skin crawl. It seems ridiculous that anyone could be so dependent on a website, such that they feel "disconnected" and "naked" without it. Is it really so vital that we be able to read what everyone we know is doing at any given time, and that they, in turn, know where we are?

And then, my second reaction is more self reflective, as I realize that I too am guilty of such dependence. I can't remember the last time that I was without my cell phone, and the one night that I had forgotten to charge it and it died on me, it turned out to be a huge inconvenience. (Not to mention that several people texted me the next morning asking where I had been and why I hadn't answered them.) This is especially true now that I have upgraded to a smart phone, and have internet and IM capabilities at my fingertips where ever I am. I'm sure that if I was unable to look up movie times or find the lyrics to a song at my whim due to an absent cell phone, I would be irritated and annoyed.

Furthermore, I can't really recall the last time that I went more than a day or two without checking facebook, my e-mail, my Twitter. I now check all of my bank statements online, watch my television programs on my computer, have a blog instead of a diary. Maybe I really am just as dependent on technology and my electronics as those people who felt lost without their favorite social networking site for 24 hours.

Though I know it is the unevitable progression of time and advancement, I guess it makes me a little sad. There's a part of me that misses the days when it was more common to call somebody than to text them (now I think that phone calls have become one of those socially awkward faux pas...sadly it seems rare that I have a phone conversation that seems truely comfortable.) I feel a little nostalgic for the days when I was unreachable by cell phone, and where people didn't feel offended or put off if I didn't respond back to them within a matter of minutes. And maybe this is just me, but I miss sometimes where people didn't have to know where I was at all time, and one could maintain a sense of privacy and mystery about their lives. Everything is so open book now - wide and available for everyone to read.

And though we are so connected now, all the time, I feel like, in a way, this has to lead to an overall sense of disconnect. Shouldn't we be talking in person, rather than through AIM? Shouldn't we be calling them up on the phone to hear their voices, rather than leaving an impersonal comment on their facebook? Shouldn't we be asking our friends what they have been up to lately, rather than already knowing due to a stream of Twitter updates?

Maybe I'm just feeling a little old fashioned. Maybe I'm feeling a little elitist - like I see the world slowly drifting towards a Wall-E-esque existance, while everyone else follows the flow of advancement without a second thought. I know that I am just as dependent on all of it as everybody else.

Who knows? Maybe all this change and renaissance of technology is a good thing.

I just miss some of the simpler pleasures of life that don't need it.