(no subject)

[vicarz]

Hello office alone. Today is a day I worry about the things I care about. I was having normal every day events on the way to work, and thought about which ones I might post about. Somehow looking at how bad facebook is, and not missing it when I avoided it over the entirety of the holiday (I might have wretched at the horrid cackle of MERRY HOLIDAY updates of little effort, or offended some twit with my humbugging), made me revisit eljay. I am actually at the point where a majority of the people writing things on my f-list is comprised of people I don't know in person - we connected from a mutual interest of subjects and literacy (a majority by far of my f-list is people I know in person who don't write often). In this online way, I prefer connecting with these "strangers" to my friends who don't have the ability or concern to write - though I'm also finding I prefer silence to inane banter.
Sometimes. Sometimes inane banter is comfortably warm, like a musty home smell.

I have a special someone with whom the bounds of inane jabber is pressed. I worry about this sometimes - I'm addicted now to the idea that whatever I do all day I have someone who cares to hear these pointless stories about cans of beans in the grocery store, and whose bean-can stories interest me - if not for the substance, then for the cooing cuddly auditory nature of the exchange. Perhaps we could instead learn a series of squawks and neck cranes adopted from BBC nature videos...

But I hate to be dependent on anything. I stock bullets for the zombie invasion, canned food for the mormons, retainers for legal difficulties yet identified, insurance for fires not set, books-candles-non-perishables for outages...I ensure I can have coffee every day, and when I have coffee every day I worry I might be dependent on coffee. So today realizing I am comfortable with expected neo-social exchanges, I worry about being dependent on them.

Plus many of the exchanges are not real. People used to fret about the artificial nature of holiday cards when you had to make a list and put stamps on them - even ink a signature. Getting a holiday or birthday wish that was prompted from an electronic reminder with a clickable send-wishes button from someone who doesn't like me isn't social interaction. I know these people, some nice, some not - who daily log on and get the list of "facebook updates" to let them know to whom to cut and paste their "best wishes." It's automated and rote. It's not a bad thing per say, but while the intentions are good it's like a sugar substitute - it has a sweetness to it, but it's obviously not real and has no substance even to the degree of the empty calories it replaces.

On the other hand, holidays and electronic reminders can lead to substance. Just because a blinking bunny card was 3 clicks doesn't mean the sender doesn't genuinely like you and care about your life. I also have to keep in mind not everyone enjoys writing, writes fast, and that my 3 page diatribes lack the effort of some others' 3 line e-cards.

Is there anything wrong with routine or automated social interaction, or wrong with it for me?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to write my gf an email about my winter coat and cleaning my car before going to work today.

Comments

[grymnir.livejournal.com]

at least you're listening to decent music, even if you aren't getting the right type of attention on demand. I, too, hope the music will stop soon.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

The people central to my life don't use LJ anymore, which makes me feel like I need a new center.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

No! You need new friends! Leave those in-person friends for the most affirmation-providing web site on the net today!

Or not.

I'm a relic :/

[eolh.livejournal.com]

Lately I find myself thinking of things to write about when I'm nowhere near Livejournal (not technically true, I guess, as I could update from my phone, but typing an extended entry on that is a pain). Then by the time I'm on a computer again, I've either forgotten about it entirely, or I've decided that I don't care or that no one else cares that much, and don't bother. It becomes even harder to justify the effort when it seems like this place is a wasteland anymore.

On the other hand, I just haven't taken to Facebook at all. I'm not even sure why. Even now, I still check Livejournal at least once a day (usually more often than that), but I can (and frequently do) go for entire weeks without even thinking to look at Facebook.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

It's a high standard you're setting - I am not convinced in-person conversation would stand up to such scrutiny :)
or use of smiley faces

[likethewatch.livejournal.com]

I use the shit out of LJ: I blog a lot. I really like reading my flist, and there are a few people that I really look forward to hearing from. I don't know most of them in meatspace, but that's hardly relevant. I still enjoy keeping up with their lives. They're just as real to me as people I occasionally get to share space with.

We are cyborgs. It's perfectly normal for us to use tools to socially network.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I like the link between real life and writing. I got lucky - boards were popular when clubs were big with me, so I could act like a twit in clubs and be fluffy while writing my more literate, angry, angsty, or on a rare day glimmers of intelligent thought on line. I got a great mesh of people who heard my non-drunk whoring thoughts online and who just had me fun in person.

I think tool is one thing, but not substitutes. I have found I like people online and in person the same way - your words are your thoughts, and other than hotness targeting, that's the type of thing relationships are built on.

Or something like that, for me.

[eriss.livejournal.com]

I have great difficulty in writing mostly due to my inability to use proper grammar. So I'm reduce to making these one-liner brain farts.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Practice help.