Cyberspace all over again

Thanks for visiting this blog for the first time. Check out the home page for the most recent posts, or the archives if you're looking for something in particular. Here are some of our favorite posts, which you might enjoy:

If you like what you see, we hope you'll consider subscribing to the RSS feed.

I’m two chapters into Howard Rheigold’s “Smart Mobs” and I realized I needed to get a mobile version of this site up. So, here’s a link to a version of this blog that will work on your favorite handheld or cell phone.

Now for an observation: Rheingold talks about mobile technologies allowing us to occupy more than one space at a time. When you’re on the subway talking on your phone, you’re both on the train and in cyberspace. This reminded me of this coffee shop I go to all the time called Common Grounds.

It’s right next to my law school, so it’s very convenient for me. The cool thing about it is that it’s independent (comfy couches and great tunes on the stereo) and they have free Wi-Fi. So, I go in there for a cup of coffee and maybe a grilled cheese, and am on the Net the whole time. I check e-mail, I blog, I do schoolwork.

The thing is everyone else is on the Net, too. Everyone in the place is interacting, just not with each other. They’re all in cyberspace. There are regulars who practically live there, staring at their laptops.

Why don’t they just do this at home I wonder? I think people like to be in close proximity to others. For many it probably beats staring at their laptops home alone in their underwear. But they’re still not talking to each other.

This reminded me of the article by David Brooks in the Atlantic Monthly. He shows how Americans segregate themselves into the most ridiculously improbable groups. The social network technology Rheingold obsesses about helps us do this now more than has ever been possible. We group because we have more in common with the people in our group (and thus like them better on average) than everyone else. This, in turn, reminded me of a story in Slate about amputation fetishists. Someone in the article made the point that things that used to be taboo and shameful are now celebrated because all the weirdos who share a fetish have found each other on the Net and started a Yahoo! Group.

So, as technology progresses, are we going to see more scenes like those at my coffee shop? Rooms full of people happily sharing smiles and a space, but not any interests or ideas? Will all our perfectly matched friends be online? Has anyone experienced this? Is this a bad thing?

Aug 21, 2003 | Comments

Related entries

  • No related entries

Post a comment