Being "ON" all the time. I don't know about you guys, but I get so tired of all these pictures, videos, slides, videochats, videomails etc. And the TAGGING! People get insulted if you, courteously but firmly, ask them NOT to tag you in their photo without your permission. To me, tagging is the ultimate rude behavior in the digital age. Maybe the narcissists that tag everyone don't think that there are people who think differently and would rather not appear in shots that are unwanted, unflattering, or simply uninteresting, if not to show that the tagger knows you and you were one more satellite around his/her ego-sun in that event.
In short, I have had enough of all the constant visually documenting every move you make and every breath you take online, on the phone, on the Pad, on the Pod. I want my right to obscurity reinstated. And it's not because I'm not in my prime anymore. I have been camera-shy, or, rather, shy in general, since I was a child. To me pictures are pure torture, and only if I take them myself and are satisfied enough with them I have no objection to post them publicly, maybe to show the curious, if nothing else, that I look like a normal, average, not surgically enhanced, human being; certainly not out of vanity.
When I interact digitally with someone else, I like videos to stay out of the picture. They are invasive and all-pervasive. I have used videochats to let my parents see me and see my parents - we don't meet often, but that's more or less the extent of what I am comfortable with.
Maybe it's an effect of middle age, but I find connected life tiring. All the constant updating, upgrading, upscaling: it is actually like standing in a crowd and having to elbow your way out of it all the time. Inherent competition is everywhere because people are, whether they want it or not, constantly visible. The web has become the triumph of voyeurism, of make-believe, a parallel dimension where the essence of the real you is lost in a constant struggle to make yourself seen, heard, read, noticed, be funny, express your opinion. TV is all "unreal reality", with by now professional reality "stars" that stage what should be "everyday life" situations - that is, uninteresting. Or counteracting the tendency to the other extreme and behave outrageously. Way too outrageously. To the point of uninteresting.
I know that all this connecting is partly good, probably people feel less alone, unimportant, or irrelevant, as they did once when they walked to the bus or were wrapped in boredom at their desks or in their living rooms. Now we can all be little stars to our 25, or 225 readers. And chat with your friend in Papua anytime you want it. Like most people, I guess, I am guilty as charged. Only sometimes I step back and observe, and I actually see how maddeningly "normal" this state of things has become. Then I feel the need for extreme solitude and reflection. Because I want "OFF".
In short, I have had enough of all the constant visually documenting every move you make and every breath you take online, on the phone, on the Pad, on the Pod. I want my right to obscurity reinstated. And it's not because I'm not in my prime anymore. I have been camera-shy, or, rather, shy in general, since I was a child. To me pictures are pure torture, and only if I take them myself and are satisfied enough with them I have no objection to post them publicly, maybe to show the curious, if nothing else, that I look like a normal, average, not surgically enhanced, human being; certainly not out of vanity.
When I interact digitally with someone else, I like videos to stay out of the picture. They are invasive and all-pervasive. I have used videochats to let my parents see me and see my parents - we don't meet often, but that's more or less the extent of what I am comfortable with.
Maybe it's an effect of middle age, but I find connected life tiring. All the constant updating, upgrading, upscaling: it is actually like standing in a crowd and having to elbow your way out of it all the time. Inherent competition is everywhere because people are, whether they want it or not, constantly visible. The web has become the triumph of voyeurism, of make-believe, a parallel dimension where the essence of the real you is lost in a constant struggle to make yourself seen, heard, read, noticed, be funny, express your opinion. TV is all "unreal reality", with by now professional reality "stars" that stage what should be "everyday life" situations - that is, uninteresting. Or counteracting the tendency to the other extreme and behave outrageously. Way too outrageously. To the point of uninteresting.
I know that all this connecting is partly good, probably people feel less alone, unimportant, or irrelevant, as they did once when they walked to the bus or were wrapped in boredom at their desks or in their living rooms. Now we can all be little stars to our 25, or 225 readers. And chat with your friend in Papua anytime you want it. Like most people, I guess, I am guilty as charged. Only sometimes I step back and observe, and I actually see how maddeningly "normal" this state of things has become. Then I feel the need for extreme solitude and reflection. Because I want "OFF".
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