Web 2.0

  • Blog
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Myspace
  • Tokbox
  • Flickr
  • Virb
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Digg
  • Stumbleupon
  • etc.

Where are you these days?

(And don’t you think it strange that I asked “where” are you? As if the world wide web has somehow become a spatial concept in my mind, as if you are physically located on my twitter feed, or physically located on your blog, or physically located in Myspace…? Interesting. You are probably sitting on your couch like me, laptop in lap, typing away. If I were to ask “where” you are, the question should probably be a physical one, not an interwebby one. But, still, I ask in relation to the web: where are you? And do you feel as lost as I do?)

The Inundation of Information

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

T.S. Eliot

How much time have I spent thinking of the inundation of information that is at my fingertips every day? That has been at my fingertips for years, starting with Myspace and now with Twittering? Do you remember when Facebook became the new Myspace, then Blogs gained over Facebook, then Twittering became the new Blogging, and now everybody’s Tweeting? What’s next?

What do I do with the eleventy-two ways I have to connect with 750 of my “best friends” these days? Do I really know 750 people?! And if I vaguely remember them from ten years ago, am I supposed to write on their wall? Or is accepting their friend request enough of a hello? How do I sift through all of the chatter and noise? How do I find the depth? The life? The human behind the 140 characters? How do I cull out what’s important and leave the rest? How do I flippin’ know when to stop reading?

And, seriously, how do I know when I need to stop chattering?

And what is all this information going to do to our brains, our relationships, and our culture…?

Do you have any answers?