(no subject)

[solipsistnation]

The guy who wrote this article is a smartass, but he's got a point. Lots of points. Yeah.

Comments

[richspk.livejournal.com]

Being comfortable confiding in someone is not the same as being friends with them. And even if it was, why should we care how our quantity of friends compares to anyone else's quantity of friends?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

If you can't confide in somebody, how good a friend is that person? And would you confide in somebody who _wasn't_ a friend?

And if you only have a very few friends close enough that you would confide in them, is that good? Is it indifferent? What if you have only one friend that close and they're out of town (and offline/without a cell phone/generally unreachable) and you need to talk to somebody?

That whole article seemed to strike a chord with me, anyway. Maybe it's not universal, but looking at people I know and people I run into in my daily life, I think it's certainly not just me.

[richspk.livejournal.com]

People have confided in lawyers, therapists, and priests for ages without necessarily being their friends. My older sister taught me, back in the 70s, that I shouldn't say anything I don't want my mother to find out about. That wasn't usually a bad thing; it was usually stuff my mother *should* have known about. Still, I learned that anything I say to another person may become universally known. Then there are things I won't tell a friend *because* they're a friend, and I don't want to burden them with something I can handle on my own.

I can't remember a time when I've *needed* to talk to someone, but I'm not incapable of making new friends when I want to. Besides, of the people I know, I'm the one most likely to be unreachable.

I don't dispute that people today, on average, have fewer people they'd confide in than in times past, but I don't think that alone is cause for concern. I think that's as likely to be a result of the current political climate, where we're asked to report any suspicious behavior because it might be terrorism, as it is to be a result of technology.

[shadow27.livejournal.com]

Then there are things I won't tell a friend *because* they're a friend, and I don't want to burden them with something I can handle on my own.

I think THAT says something about people in general. I can't count the number of times just saying something outloud has made it go away (or at least dealable.

Not wanting to burden you friends seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice is generaly macho crap.

[richspk.livejournal.com]

I think macho would be a rather funny tag to apply to me, but who knows? Maybe that shoe fits?

[sweh.livejournal.com]

That's what the barman has been traditionally for; everyone tells the barman their sob story. Nothing new, there!

[crazy4cats.livejournal.com]

One reason I like IT is because I get to say "I fixed that" or "I helped that person today" and it made their lives better; that and I like not sitting at a desk all damn day long. :D

[richspk.livejournal.com]

I didn't read all the way to the bottom the first time around. It is cool, to some extent, to be able to look at the fruits of your labor manifested physically. I think back to when I worked in fast food, though. I could look at a burger and say "I made that!" Well, maybe I could have if there'd been time to appreciate my work, or if anyone really cared about 1/8 lb hamburgers made from frozen patties. I think back to my years in the machine shop, when I could look at a bin of finished parts and say "I made 5000 copies of that!" Uh, yeah. Fun. I did take some pleasure in polishing parts, though. When you finished that, you had something kind of pretty. I don't miss blowing metal dust out of my nose, though.

Now I sit at a computer all day designing things. Finished parts arrive on a truck or get assembled in the back of our building. I can look at tiny parts or huge assemblies and say "I designed that!" The money could be better, but this isn't bad.

[crazy4cats.livejournal.com]

LOL.... your reply is too funny, mainly because it made me think of what I'd written in all seriousness, as something worthy making fun of, too. :D And I believe that being able to laugh at myself is one of my most important sources of humor! :D

Yes, the problem is there isn't enough time to appreciate what's been done and that does create a lot of stress for me.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

See, I have a problem with the original premiss; there is not and will not be a photo of me that would cause that much shame. I may not necessarily be proud of who I am (self-image issues) but I am what I am and I don't hide it.

1. I'm in my late 30s; when I grew up I didn't have iPods and gameboys. I had books. If I was in a waiting room then I would read a book. All that technology has done is change what we use to shut out the world.

2. I've never had many friends. When I was at school I had one or two friends, but life was simple then. Today I have more people that I've told my darkest fears to than ever in my life. But most people are just acquaintances. I meet most people at work; we do work stuff. We change jobs, and lose touch, and new acquaintances come along. My Dad rarely did out-of-work things with his co-workers, either. There's no real change.

3. Anecdotes don't make anything more than anecdotes. I fell in love with Tori via email and usenet and IRC, and we've been happily together for 5 years. Ah well.

4. Whuh? I'm not even sure what he's talking about! Maybe I'm just too tech-savvy and the point isn't even a point for me. *shrug*

5. Real friends don't criticise your lifestyle unless they see it is going to be destructive. They will support you.

6. More free time, more money, more world knowledge. "Eat all your greens; there are starving children in Ethopia!"

7. I've done things for people that I've never met before. I've had people travel across country just to meet me to thank me for what I've done for them.

Basically I disagree with every single point.

[shadow27.livejournal.com]

All that technology has done is change what we use to shut out the world.

There's a great D&D ad runniong that shows a guy sitting alone, in the dark, in front of his computer. Across the bottom it reads "If you're going to sit your basement pretending to be an elf at least have some friends over."

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Agreed on both counts. I'm not completely won over by his arguments about how evil communications technology is, but I think most of them at least raise valid concerns.

no, not Gribnar, my level 43 dwarfen mime!

[mpgalvin.livejournal.com]

Jim J Bollocks for the disagree.
i think the author just needs to cancel his damn WoW account.

but, i also think he's muddled three ideas into a single franken-rant. and i speak from a point of great authority on meandering rants, oh yes. :P

[ruggrat.livejournal.com]

Aw, why does he want to punch the little forest man in the crotch?

I play a bodhrain, does he want to punch me in mycrotch? Fine. Shutting him out now.

[ruggrat.livejournal.com]

ps, the sad bear made me feel so sad...

[dirkcjelli.livejournal.com]

Don't trust the cute propaganda..., Bears are dangerous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBuXz4ozJLc (Steven Colbert)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I have a bodhrain... When I went to see how to play it, I found a whole lot of web pages saying basically "Oh good, another bodhrain player. :P"

Not that I'd make it a croch-punching offense, but any intrusive percussion instrument (triangle, big bass drum, rototoms, cowbell) can be pretty annoying with minimal effort. It's the major effort that makes it good...

[shadow27.livejournal.com]

I love his rigorous statistics "The numbers are down a whole bunch since just 1985."

There's validity to the claim that many technologies separate us from our fellows. People should get out, ride bikes, breath fresh air, far more than they do

Still, I think the writer definitely romanticizes the past. "50 years ago people were happier with their jobs and lives"? That's a load of Republican crap. Women were told what to do, people were being black listed as communists, blacks were segregated. 50 years ago people simply didn't talk about what bothered them. They were good negihbors and kept up appearances to try and out Normal Rockwell everyone else on the block.

[archdukechocula.livejournal.com]

You know, Marx covered all this 150 years ago. He was just vaslty more articulate. Capitalism alienates people, but it reduces our dependencies upon others. It's a double edged sword, and it is a natural consequence of a world in which we in the west can operate autonomously as a matter of survival (although we are obviously hugely interdependent in a technological and economic sense). You couldn't do that in agrarian societies, you couldn't do that in hunter gatherer societies. Simply put, I dont need to rely on you for food because I had a bad day of hunting. I can get food from some anyonymous individual at the supermarket as part of a well regulated exchange with clear rules that eliminate the need for complex social bonds and interactions. Where there is material poverty, there are stronger social bonds. I've experienced it first hand living in poor countries. We dont forge strong social bonds because we no longer need social bonds. I do think though that this probably leads to comparative emotional unhappiness for the average person. So, it's a serious problem of the modern world, but not a completely unavoidable one.