By JARRETT ARSENAULT
In a world where nearly every person is connected by the touch of a button, one man finds himself lost. This man seemed to miss the memo on how to foster relationships effectively in this odd world, but certainly gives his all to appear to fit in. After all, doesn’t everyone want to fit in?
This man grew up at an age when computers were starting to be the next big thing, but kids still went outside to play. Most of this man’s friends have easily made the transition from person-to-person to complete interconnectedness, but this man still can’t figure out why people are glued to their phones at a social function where the soul purpose of the gathering is to communicate.
It would appear that the entirety of social media has a common ground of fitting in somewhere. Some people like complaining, some people like instigating, and some apply a more practical method of keeping in touch with acquaintances and friends alike who may be countries away.
There are certain aspects of social media this man can agree with, but games like Farmville, and people posting everything short of bowel movements are just behaviours he can never fully understand.
Online dating is something particularly bothersome to this man. Not that there is anything wrong with the concept – it would appear as a perfectly natural progression given the context of how we have come to communicate – but there is something intrinsically flawed in written text.
Not to say conversing face-to-face is perfect, but something is most certainly lost in translation when conversing (or would chatting be more appropriate?) with someone online. Sure there is a connection; sure people can just erase what they didn’t mean to say and replace it with what they did, but is a do-over on conversation really productive?
Perhaps this man will understand someday. Perhaps something will click for him, as it appears to have done for everyone else. For now, I will keep making it look like I know what I’m doing.
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