Uncle

I cried, “Uncle!” 3/27/06. See, I have – HAD – an ongoing wrestling match with technology, but I got beat. 3/27/06. I was caught by surprise. I mean, I was reading a magazine article. A printed magazine. The kind the mailman brings to— Forget it. You get the picture. It was in the April 3, 2006 issue of Newsweek. The article “Putting the ‘We’ in WEB.” It talks about the revolution that is occurring on the web right now with sites like MySpace and Flickr. Call it Web 2.0. People shaping the web. Guiding it. It’s a fascinating and thrilling article, and…I gave up. I wanted to be a part of it.

Why had I been resisting? I’ve been afraid of it. I’ve been afraid of the speed of change. Of its impermanence. Its intangibility. I can’t go anywhere and pull it off a shelf. Maybe I’ve been waiting for it to slow down. To finalize. For the merry-go-round to stop. For the wheel to point in the direction I need to go. But it won’t. Maybe that’s what I needed from this article. Screaming in my ears. “This is not going to stop!”

But what of this? Isn’t this how we live? Isn’t much that gets us through a day intangible? I believe in God. I’ve never looked on Him with my eyes. Isn’t much of what gets us through a day impermanent? I believe in my memories. I’ve gone back to my elementary school and marveled at how small it’s become.

I’m afraid of the isolation the web can provide us. We don’t have to interact with people anymore. You don’t need to go to the grocery store. I no longer rent movies from a store. “Grocery and video stores are your concern?” Yes. In the name of convenience, people will isolate themselves. In the future, everyone will be agoraphobic.

And I mentioned technology earlier. Is the web any different than technology? Aren’t they becoming synonymous? Will every piece of relevant technology soon be web-compatible? Yes. Doesn’t that frighten me? Yes! I just soiled myself writing that.

And don’t get me started on what happens when one of our beloved systems crashes. We look like we’re Floridians and it’s snowing.

But anyway, I gave up. 3/27/06.

Here’s what I’ve done:
Taken a picture with my phone and posted it on the internet.
Created a MySpace account
Started a blog

Things to do:
Buy something off Ebay.

I’m not going to be a Luddite. This is happening. I need to find myself within the system. The system as it is right now. It may change tomorrow. But I’ll be there.