Let's face it. The internet is magic. It's power for good and evil is omnipotent. If T.V.'s mystique were likened to the Smurf-hating wizard Gargamel, bumbling and full of error, the internet is Potter's Dumbledore. These days, everyone is online. Social media gives us all a public persona to do with as we want. What we create is a unique cyber imprint.
What's more interesting is how cyberspace has made us all more of who we really are as opposed to who we want to be. Most active users leave a trail. It's hard to fake your vibe. Some of us manicure our profile pages as if they were a bonsai plant. Some of us don't. But we all show a bit of our true selves online.
All hail, the almighty relationship status. I have a cousin who's newly engaged every few months. I'm single and I admit that I look forward to the day "in a relationship" can be my status, simply for the likes. They're like tiny little wrapped gifts. I just love them when I get them. But I'm no Kim K. I'm not in it for show. I want the relationship to be real.
We have entered an era in which we must redefine privacy when we've all become public figures in so far as we engage in social media to share ourselves with our friends and followers. Never have we been so accessible to so many. Not since we left the village. Even then our audience was never this broad. The possibilities for both expression and connection for the individual in cyberspace are exhilarating to the spirit and has captivated billions. It's undeniable. We crave connection. We want to plug in.
We've handed in our anonymity en masse. Some of us seek fame and fortune, some search for love and others simply want to share our voice. It's all valid here. We know Big Brother and corporations monitor our moves at will but we continue to covet the net like a moth to a flame. Will this be the death of us or will it breath new life into the collective consciousness? I'm counting on it being the later.
What's funny-ironic is our human fear of the computer. Like Dr. Frankenstein, we mistrust our own creation. It's the basis of so many of our best sci-fi film thrillers, from the early cinema classic Metropolis to 2001 to The Matrix. They are cautionary tales symbolic of how The Age of Technology and our dismal world economy has displaced millions of workers, stripping them of their livelihood; a symbolic apocalypse. Our fear of computers replacing humans has been realized. We scramble for new ways to live in cooperation with our fantastic monster.
We've decided that if we can't beat them we might as well join them, especially where there are apps involved. I've heard people describe their smartphones as best friends. Cyber life is no substitute for real living. We must strike a balance least we get caught up in the magic.
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