Evidenced by the accelerated traffic and membership to online social networks as well as the increased monetization of such avenues, the internet has transformed everyone. Parts of America are still encapsulated from the effects until a new generation of iPod-toting teens demands broadband connectivity; since most of my point here ignores these rustic, “old-fashioned” neighborhoods, it is best to clear them from the expected demographic audience.
The internet has changed everything. My daily activities are based around a couple of items, namely my email and iCal events. My email directs nearly all of my moves outside of course blocks - the periods when I am free from such constraints are often accompianed with a sense of lightness. My iCal syncs with a handful of other community and academic-related calendars that update automatically and alert me of important to-dos. Without these chains around my neck, I could foreseeably live a much more relaxing life. Yet, the increased interactivity between me and internet is so commonplace now, that the absence of it would feel unnatural. It is not my immediate concern to argue the morals of such a statement, so they, too, will be left untouched.
People who have more time to spend are relentlessly attracted to networks like mySpace, facebook, Second Life, and so on. And, recently, these outlets are gaining commercial acceptance. As long as YouTube cleans up the unlicensed works on their site, the major networks are certainly willing to provide clips or full shows, assuming they can somehow procure a buck. So much human-to-human or human-to-group interaction takes place today that the term “social network” is now more frequently used in relation to internet-based networks.
The people in transition from internet-acute to internet-centric often undergo some level of perceptual shift. Even those currently internet-centric might be shocked to second-think their current relationship with the internet. The epiphany I speak of is that which occurs when you realize how important and viable are the interactions you have that are technology-based. Fifty years ago, 95% of meaningful human interaction took place on the face-to-face level. Today, friends communicate facebook-to-facebook, but the quality of message transmission is arguably diminished - of course, while the quantity of transmissions are astronomically greater. This shift of perspective - that my internet communications are just as important to my daily living as those taking place with other organic, human flesh - is having its heyday in America. The successful transition from internet-acute to internet-centric living is actually found in the equilibrium of prevalence.
An interesting balance occurs when humans interact with conflicting audio and visual signals, called the McGurk effect. By using the three sights & sounds of “ba”, “da”, and “ga”, an interesting combination appears. If people are asked to report what they heard and then are given an audio signal of “ba” while seeing “ga”, a great deal of their replies are not what you’d think. An enormous majority of people actually respond by saying they heard “da”, despite that stimulus not making an appearance at all in the test. The mind naturally balances the signals, trying to make the most coherent message available from conflicting sources.
Similarly, discovering a balance of internet-centric interaction and face-to-face interaction is important; equal, too, is the balance between technology-based interaction and organic-based interaction. Facebook to faces. Exercising to Xbox. Apples to Macs. An imbalance towards one side creates either a machine or a Johnny Bark.
Perhaps the greatest example of the modern-day balance between internet and organic interaction is YouTube. If all YouTube content was capped right now and not another frame of data could be added to the collection, I could literally spend three or four lifetimes browsing every second of video that is posted. The remarkable point is that the origins of these living images are organic. Apart from the select claymation creations, the content on YouTube is genuinelyyou.
A collaboration of flesh, mind, and silicon, the internet is revolutionizing our holistic association with the world around us. We heard about this revolution with general retailing in 1997, then with online music distribution in 2003, and today the revolution touches… us. It impossible to live in the mainstream America of today without finding a video on YouTube that you simply must share with some friends. It would be a shame to deny yourself and your friends the ability to keep in touch in real-time video-chatting over thousands of miles of distance. It would be cruel to think that the friends we make online are pseudo-friends or are somehow truly less capable of full feeling and being than those you see around you.
Take advantage of the internet and meet new people over that connection, keeping in mind the attainable and vitalizing equilibrium of tech-to-touch. Let McGurk work for you and, of course, keep up the great claymation.
