Social networking… the alpha and the beta of our existence?– by Cristina Stancu, 16 years old, National College Unirea Focsani
The motto of the urban life sounds like an awkward refrain: ,,All stays in communication!,, . Is this true? The humanity can’t help clicking, blogging, e-mailing, it is like we have an innate ability for computers and technology, so that guides me to the next thought– hundreds of mothers lie to us with their sons who in fact are not humans anymore; the little dwarfs in clouts become a germinal form of robotic development. Social networking pretends to have the major role of interconnecting people, cultures, areas, showing the advantage of reuniting the like-minded persons, so in contrast with real life, they behave like households where the humans are arranged in communities, without a messy amalgam. The result: peace between tastes and purposes. It is doubtful whether network platforms increase the rate of communication. I can see the whole Earth connected to a modem and waiting eagerness to enter the Yahoo Mess, talking in this manner: Hey, Earth at the line! How do you do, Venus darling? And of course the reply – Regards, old pal! I admire the Sun, have you seen his new flat top hairstyle? What a guy!
The fight real-virtual platforms appears due to the illusion of the Internet that offers the possibility of a psychological revenge. Hi5, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or Friendster.com assure a good place to increase an old phenomenon: BOVARYSME, the tendency to build a parallel daydream universe, closed hermetically to the outside. This space can be created easily with a profile and a facile registration. It is a difference between a person that socializes successfully in typical life and a user that has one thousand ,,friends,, . All the concepts, known before this explosion, commercialize in business strategies. Finding love, meeting former school mates, sharing opinions, all that online, make the refrain of Louis Armstrong to sound silly: What a wonderful world! (it is only if it laughs like this: : ) !). Gradually, the human in us will give the primate to the robotic side and the computer will guess our identities, will customize our web pages by the means of our declared interests, so the computer will be more human than us. A dramatic inversion of roles! Yes, the future brings faster social connection, but more insecurity because a personalized profile attracts attackers and undesired worms. Flexible platforms, mobility, a sweeter physical life, business rendezvous, the thrill of online dating on a bigger scale… you know what? Let’s call it a day, leave me alone with all your progress! My mask of rebellion pleads for closer human relations, based on the preservation of the term ,,humanity,, , in its absolute denotation. In other case, I declare all of us characters of H. G. Wells and that is it… let’s live the SF existence and let’s be unhappy by typing 🙁 .What a hostile language! In this context, what Roland Barthes meant? “Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.”
I do not feel the passion of the word around me, I want to taste the bitterness and the honey of saying so I will make a vow in front of my audience, myself and my muse: If the waves of computerized age sank me on the depth like an alga, would you tell me that I was drowned by wind waves, not electromagnetic ones, although that may be a big lie?
Acest eseu este castigatorul unei mentiuni in cadrul 2010 Shakespeare School Essay Competition, grupa de varsta 15-19 ani, avand ca tema “Discuss the role and future of social networking sites hi5 and Facebook“. Premiul a constat intr-un discount de 50% la orice curs intensiv de vara de limba engleza la Shakespeare School, precum si in carti si alte cadouri de la Diverta si Fischer International. Dorim sa o felicitam pe Cristina pentru faptul ca s-a evidentiat din peste 3100 de eseuri trimise la concursul national de creatie in limba engleza organizat de Shakespeare School si ii uram mult succes in continuare!
