The Union of Our Thoughts #1
Hi, all! Jess and I decided to do something REALLY crazy and do a “joint” post for our shared blog. Insanity, yes?
Erica
So, recap for the reader(s): Today, Jess and I took the next step in our relationship. Yes, we changed our relationship statuses. Keep in mind, loves, that we are both very single, and very straight…But the subsequent freakouts of my friends and family would suggest otherwise.
Jess
i was thinking about the whole “no face to face connection” aspect of internet relationships, and realized that the web cam and the careful use of emoticons has pretty much blown that out of the water
Erica
So true. Honestly, I feel like the pen pals of days gone by were MUCH more invasive…I mean, you never saw these people face to face, never heard their voices, and yet you conversed with them as if they were your best friends. Surely the stalker potential there is MUCH higher when the person you’re talking to knows your name, age, address, school, and gender by first contact.
Jess
this is VERY true. and part of the whole appeal of the internet for talking, for me at least, is that you go there when you WANT to talk. if i have something to do, I don’t go on, and nobody talks to me. But with something like a phone, I get calls in class, or I’m home and somebody just shows up while i’m in the shower
there seems to be JUST ENOUGH anonymity to make it safe and appealing
Erica
Exactly! Just look at us. We’re internet friends who met via a mutual (in my case) internet friend. I think it’s really cool how social processes as a whole are basically reversed…Online, you get to like or dislike someone because of their personality, THEN as time goes by you begin to learn secondary things like socioeconomic status, physical appearance, etc. It’s kind of refreshing.
Jess
There was a study that used the six degrees of kevin bacon game for a social networking theory. It turns out that you can drop a package in Africa (I think it was rural Kenya, but I may be wrong) and get it to a specific professor Boston in less than 6 mailings. I LOVE that we are no longer restricted to the people we meet in the street or in our neighborhood, and that we can have friends ALL OVER.
Erica
My “real world” friends don’t get it when I talk about my friends overseas, and it always makes me giggle when they get that blank look on their faces as I go, “Oh, yeah, I met him/her online and we hit it off.”
Jess
It boggles my mind that more people don’t understand. What makes me any more likely to like a person I meet on the train or in a mandatory college class than a person I meet on a forum that shows that if nothing else, we have AT LEAST ONE common interest?
Erica
More importantly, what makes it any more likely that the person you meet online will be a serial rapist, whereas the creeper on the train is not?
Jess
Of the MANY creepers I’ve met on the New York subway, I must say that I feel safer talking to people online. I’d rather see some dicks through a screen on chatroulette and be able to click “next” than have a dick waggled at me on a train at two in the morning.
Erica
Yeah…I can honestly say that’s never happened. My creeper experiences have always been in coffeehouses XD
But in all seriousness, it’s about time that people start becoming more web-savvy…My six year old sister is learning to type in school this year.
Jess
As a Mac user, I don’t know how tech savvy I can be called, but I’ve learned to not be techphobic. My parents are still learning how to use social networking tools, though I have to say that my brothers and grandparents have taken to it like ducks to water
Erica
Your grandparents? REALLY?
Jess
Yup! We’ve found all sorts of estranged family and a bunch of Grandma’s old friends from back in the day
Erica
Hahaha, that’s amazing. I love Facebook.
Jess
My family in Venezuela gets to keep in touch too, and I can keep in touch with my family in England and Ireland
I’ve essentially watched my baby cousin grow up, despite the fact that he’s in Ireland
Erica
Yeah, that’s kind of what I’ve done with Sister. Dady’s always putting up random pictures of her lol.
Jess
And if we didn’t use the web like we did, we’d miss out on SO much!
Erica
I KNOW!
Not to mention keeping up with my damn social life.
Jess
Oh GODS yes!
Erica
SERIOUSLY
MY SCHOOL sends out stuff via facebook now
Jess
So did/does Tech!
Erica
It’s, like, beyond me!
Don’t even get me started on relationship statuses
and Facebook Official
Jess
That’s like the MLIA where the guy got down on one knee and offered a girl a mouse to ask her to make their relationship Facebook Official. I thought it was really sweet.
Erica
If the girl didn’t say yes, she needs to be slaughtered
Jess
She did. That’s why it was an MLIA
Erica
True
Jess
And that’s another thing. Little things like MLIA and postsecret give people an outlet to express themselves in the most fantastic ways! They can bring you extreme joy or touch you with their sorrow and grief. Its stunning.
Jess will be here on the morrow to tell you all about the Alice in Wonderland sneak preview she’s currently attending.
<3
