Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Too accessible

Ever notice how this communication gap is closing and as we get more and more tools to communicate we get further and further away from our contacts? We got Friendster, Facebook, Twitter and what not and they are incorporating chats, location trackers (for Google accounts), so that we always know where each of our friends are. But the more these tools become available for our utilization the more we want to deactivate it.

Look at the 'Away' mode for instance. That currently signifies that 'I don't want to talk to just anyone, but if you're in the loop, I'll reply your message'. Or that 'Do not disturb' mode that says 'I'm not really busy but I just don't want to receive any messages.' We have become so socially adept that we've become unsociable!

We end up trying to find features to shut off our online presence instead. What's up with that? I reckon that if you don't want to be found, don't log in or even sign up for chat. If you don't want your pictures shared or edited or used in a malicious manner, don't post your pictures up. If you don't want people to know what you're doing every other second of the day, don't post Twitters every other second of the day. It really is that simple! The more information you share, the more information that can be used against you.

I think at some point people would think, 'How nice would it be if I just lived in a cave and people can't find me?'.

Then maybe a few hours after you've found the cave you'd think, ' Why doesn't this cave have WiFi?'