SBN

The Solitude of Connection…

About eight years ago, my friend Bob Garza and I were a trendy Sushi place in San Jose.   We were sitting in the bar area waiting for a table, and adjacent to us were a couple of young Asian guys.  They were dressed to impress, but we couldn't see their faces, because they were tractor-beamed to their phones, which were firmly anchored in their laps.  Had their fingers not been in constant motion, we would have assumed they were looking for something on the floor. 

Bob yelled over at them, asked them if they were texting each other, and we all had a good laugh.  Back then, especially in the heart of Silicon Valley, they were the epitome of the Web 2.0 geek stereotype.  Chances are they worked at a well funded start-up with a really goofy name and no employees older than 30.

Today, that scenario is normal – it's the rule, not the exception.  For sure, we are just beginning to understand how having all your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and other assorted friends, family and strangers at your fingertips impacts not just how we communicate, but how we form and manage relationships.   This New York Times article  does a great job at dissecting the forces driving today's smartphone fueled, Borg-like,140-characters-or-less, SocialWeb Zeitgeist.

 

 

 

How many times a day do you see this?  How many times a day is this you?

 

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Through the looking glass.... authored by Elizabeth Safran. Read the original post at: https://throughthelookingglass.typepad.com/through_the_looking_glass/2012/04/about-eight-years-ago-my-buddy-bob-garza-and-were-a-trendy-sushi-place-in-san-jose-we-were-sitting-in-the-bar-area-waiting.html