What was life like before Facebook? I don't remember. And it is not that I just don't remember, it is that I have trouble even conceiving of how life was lived before Facebook.
What about cell phones? What was it like to live in a world without electronic access to people at all hours of the day? Or television? Where did people turn to get their information? How did civilization continue without the constant comforting assurance that there is a bigger world outside of our immediate reach?
Much more time must have been required to tend to the various relationships that bind our lives together. Letters, lunch dates, and parties must have served critical roles in our social structure beyond simple luxury and leisure.
It seems simpler. There were less modes of communication and less room for uncomfortable, murky social grey area. These days we tend our relationships in a kind of interpersonal purgatory filled with Facebook friends and twitter followers. More than acquaintances, not quite friends, our access is both voyeuristic and isolating.
What about cell phones? What was it like to live in a world without electronic access to people at all hours of the day? Or television? Where did people turn to get their information? How did civilization continue without the constant comforting assurance that there is a bigger world outside of our immediate reach?
Much more time must have been required to tend to the various relationships that bind our lives together. Letters, lunch dates, and parties must have served critical roles in our social structure beyond simple luxury and leisure.
It seems simpler. There were less modes of communication and less room for uncomfortable, murky social grey area. These days we tend our relationships in a kind of interpersonal purgatory filled with Facebook friends and twitter followers. More than acquaintances, not quite friends, our access is both voyeuristic and isolating.
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