Long Distance Relationships

During my Facebook sabbatical, I have noticed one humorous and yet disturbing thing about our culture.
-Materialism, well who doesn't already realize that on a normal college student you can find a cell phone, iPod, Laptop, and a plethora of credit cards in his or her wallet. But I've always noticed how we desire the latest stuff that will only be out of date within a few months.

No, I have come to notice how keen we are on announcing our presence in this loud, crazy, chaotic world. The idea of people knowing what goes on inside our heads drives us to do crazy things. Its a need that has crossed all borders, all religions, beliefs, cultures, races... pretty much every human classification known to man. We can't start our day without first letting the world know that we have woken up.

Let me say this plainly- Twitter is weird. I don't get it. How does me updating the community of followers whats happening during my day positively add to someone's day.

"@gavinbrown is driving to Starbucks for a pick me up, then off to the gym to attempt a work out- ah! mla! I am so out of shape!"

"@gavinbrown just saw two people walking in the horseshoe holding hands... Ah, I love the fall..."

"@gavinbrown is doing homework, then meeting @jimmywhoever for some coffee and whatever... gotta love fridays!!!"

Yeah, this is what it sounds like to read twitter.

Somewhere along the way, we found that the more we people we know, the more enjoyable/filling/idk life is. We want all of these relationships, but there isn't enough hours in the day for us to spend with these people. So we resolve to only know people by their photo albums, their groups, and friends on Facebook.

And even though culture now almost requires us to use these forms of communication to stay in touch with people (and by require, I mean, gives us no choice) we find ourselves becoming more
distanced from each other. The distance possibility of interaction between two people at computer screens is rated at infinity. Whether your next to each other, or on opposite sides of the world, it feels the same.