Society begins in 2011

Someone writes into a local newspaper and complains about how social networking is becoming the new means of socializing in the modern day world and I’m left to think; yes and your point?

2011, is the year where we are seeing technology proudly step up to the pedestal marked with the sign ‘# 1’and how do we react to this? The older generation rants and raves about people losing touch with reality. The modern generation chants for technology to improve faster so that (let’s face it) in 2050 we can have flying cars and weird space material to keep us warm during cold winter nights and let’s not forget those AI Robot Servants?

It’s time to ask this question:

Which side of the line do you stand on?

• The side of the line that marks you as someone, who, in the real world has no friends, no grasp of time and who sits at home commenting on friends  walls because it’s easier than getting into your car and driving to your friends place?

Or

• Are you on the side of the line that leaves you with your eyes still open to reality, leaves you with the smudge of ink on the skin as you write a letter ready for posting, or where you take the time to be with friends, simply to have that physical connection spark you back into life?

It’s true that today we can still have the option which leaves a few balancing, like trapeze artists, on the line that divides us. Twisting and leaning backwards and forwards into each side allowing us to balance reality and the virtual perfectly.

With the fast growing pace of the modern world, I think the few who wobble on this line and who are struggling to find their place, will eventually lose focus and end up falling on either side, leaving them with one last option: Left or Right.

So, where do you stand?

Are these people who are so unhappy about  us belonging in a virtual world worried because of our health and our lives going to waste, or are they simply scared of change?

It’s a well known fact that human nature doesn’t like change. Yes, they are able to adapt but I think technology is increasing so quickly that these people can’t adapt in time. Think about it; one minute Xbox comes out and it’s a whole new world of gaming; the next minute Playstation comes out with a controller you just need to turn in the direction you want to move – no more pushing buttons and then all of a sudden we have 3D gaming where you step in front of your screen and voila; you are literally inside that world. Are the people of the past, or even the people of today and the future scared, concerned or eager for our lives to be transformed into a virtual world like Society where eventually ‘gaming’ takes on a whole new level and may even leave open doors for new jobs – perhaps not exactly like Society because as we’ve seen in the movie Gamer , it’s a pretty hard hitting way for gaming technology to go. Technology and social networking are growing fast and it’s not taking a moment to stop and turn back.

Stop and turn back... Should we do this? As people who started from the roots of no or little technology, should we take the moment to appreciate the books which brought us to where we are now, should we take the moment to be with the people we love, inside the real world who have been there for us before social networking entered our lives?

Should we stop and turn to say goodbye to history so we can say hello to a technology based future?