We just love having friends. Online, that is. Hey, look at me – I have so and so friends on Facebook, so and so followers on twitter. So many connections on Linkedin and Myspace or whatever other otherworldly connectedness one subscribes to. We email, tweet, fax, call and text each other 24/7.
And yet, the minute we go outside, inevitably stepping away from the computer screen we do whatever we can to avoid actual ‘togetherness’ – for lack of a better word. We’re constantly tuned in to our ipads/cellphones and other gadgets. Our ears are constantly plugged into ipods and mp3 players. We organize massive raves where hundreds of people all listen to their own personal devices (separately) and dance ‘together.’
No value judgments. Just ruminatin’.
Isn’t this a bit shameful?!? I have been thinking about this a lot lately. “I”pod, “I”pad, “I”phone, “I”tunes … it’s all about “me,” and there is virtually no space or energy left for “us” anymore. Lately, I have felt quite convicted about my own personal lack of community with others. So I’m trying to unplug a bit more often. But our society certainly does make that a difficult task! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hey Leslie! Great to hear from you
But is it shameful? Or is this simply the future? Whatever the answer (and I’m sure that depends on one’s ideology) – all this solipsism is ironically couched in a lexical group devoted to communal living – friends, community, sharing, followers… Isn’t it time we ditched the illusion and called it by its real name? We have become what Melville’s Ishmael refers to as I-solatoes 
This age of technology we live in certainly is interesting. Supposedly it keeps us all closer, but in reality it has pushed as all further apart in some ways.
Yes. The paradox itself is fun for those of us who enjoy that kind of thing. But it does make you wonder… Just some more evolution in the making, I guess!