“Wesley Crusher returns to the Enterprise on vacation from the Academy only to discover a mysterious alien game infiltrating and controlling the crew. He discovers it stimulates the pleasure center of the mind but affects the higher brain functions as well. Data wasn’t incapacitated by accident but turned off by the infected crew members because androids’ computer brains are immune for the game. Alas by now Wesley is the only unaffected human, all the others hunt him down while Picard takes orders from a tailing Kitarean ship commander, directing him to distribute the game to other ships and bases.”
As a bit of a self proclaimed introvert (with a blog) I feel a lot like Wesley Crusher. Everyone wants me to be more social on Facebook, they want me to play the game. There’s just one thing: I don’t want to play the game!
Remember when someone posting your photos to the Internet without your consent used to be a bad thing..??
Yeah me too. Those days are long gone. Oh and wait it gets better: soon they’ll be able to tag you in videos too.
I sit here and ask myself: does Facebook make my life more meaningful? Shouldn’t I be reading some great novel? or going out and being social in the real world? Shouldn’t I decide when my social life shuts off?
Is Facebook more than an interactive popcorn reality TV show for the masses? Probably not. It’s a social phenomenon for sure.. but it’s one that won’t capture my higher brain functions. Why? It speaks to one’s vanity, insecurities, and pettiness and lures them in like a sirens’ call.
Right now my life is a 24-hour drive through. People can come and go as they please. More than half of them are just acquaintances or people I knew a hundred years ago. Our lives parting ways naturally but still there is this artificial connection.
Gossip and tagged photos abound.. Yup.. it’s US Weekly for the web, a glorified Hot or Not. Need to stay in touch: use Linked-in. Need to communicate? Stop being so passive aggressive and make a damned phone call or worse, write someone an email instead of updating your status or writing on my wall..
I’m speaking to all you introverts out there. Some might even call you individuals and I know you exists so listen to me and listen to me good: you don’t have to play the game and when they ask you why you refuse: tell them you were out that night.
