Saturday, August 30, 2008

-J-J- is Existing in Linear Time.

It seems a little perverse to write about Facebook on a blog, sort of nudging the snake even further around to make a meal of his tail.

I am addicted to Facebook. There I said it. I check it all the time, tooling around, updating portions that only express the most intriguing aspects of myself.

It really isn't ostensibly different from MySpace. The interface is cleaner and there are fewer ads to contend with. There is less of a possibility that some troll will peruse your profile, befriend you and hose your inbox with hanky panky emails about his or her webcam site.

The thing I believe is the real difference between the two, is the Status Update.

MySpace has a status update, but it seems less of an imperative. When you log on to Facebook the first thing you see is the looming question, "What are you doing right now?"

Jeez. What AM I doing right now? How in the world do I answer such a question?

Um...okay...how about this: -j-j- is watching TV. (Click)

With that, the whole of the Facebook universe can see what you're doing right now. Another click, and the list of status updates appears, revealing what everyone else is doing, too.

Suddenly, watching TV seems inadequate when compared to "Dan is All out of Love and So lost Without You." or "Betsy is BMX-ing. ROCK!" or the zen, if somewhat oblique "Gary is."

Oh, dear...Now I need to come up with something that is alluring but not trying too a hard, casually witty, perhaps with some political awareness, and maybe with an allusion to my own personal hopes for connection...but not too much! You must be careful not to give the milk away for free.

Reading through the Facebook status updates is like being in room with hundreds of blindfolded people, all of them announcing personal information at the same decibel. If you really pay attention you can find threads, see relationships emerge and disintegrate. Hopeful pleas. Excited yearnings. Mundane bullshit. Trivial aggravation. Forlorn entreaties. Some are crystal clear. Some require a decoder ring.


Or maybe I just think too much about this shit.

(Sigh) -j-j- is still watching TV. (Click)

2 comments:

Crazypants said...

You know i wanted to make a play using status updates as the text. Then I found out Aaron Sorkin, and other Hollywood gobblers are already on it. Yet another million dollar idea down the drain. Because you make millions of dollars doing plays, you know.
p.s. if I didn't already know you, I would think you were my soulmate if I just read your blog. But as I know you, I already knew you were my soulmate.

Jan Smelk said...

^^^^^^well isn't that just the sweetest!

 
Add to Technorati Favorites