The Anti-Social Network

How social is too social? And how much is downright scary? Better think about it and get it over with before the Google Plus wave hits these shores, and blows us all away, like Facebook did before, and Orkut before that.

We're standing on the brink of something big, there's no denying that. The idea that started almost two decades ago has almost reached it's logical end; the idea of digital unification. Everything, and I mean everything, would be under one roof, and accessed from one site. Already, with the advent of Google Plus, we're looking at a system that has integrated our browser, our internet search engine, our emails, calenders, phones and contacts, our blogs, the most detailed maps on the planet, and now finally a social networking site that brings all of this under one umbrella.

The self-confessed intention of these networking sites is to provide 'the ultimate social experience'. Make friends, keep in touch, have conversations, fight, make up, announce big decisions, whatever you want to do. Just like real life. (It's strange, but what these sites and reality shows have managed to do, is to sell us something I thought we all had in abundance.. real life!) But now, what we're seeing is a clumping together of our social life with our business life, and our personal lives(if we had any left). Which pretty much covers our whole existence. And therein lies the key, and that is where we are headed. All the reasons that we have today to get away from our computers and 'The Network' are gradually being taken out. We can work from home, meet anyone we want from home. All the entertainment of our dreams now available with a mouse-click. We make plans on Facebook, only to tweet later that something came up, and we can't make it. Even if we must go out, we can always carry those highly portable tablets, that ensures that we 'remain in touch' with countless friends.

I believe that somewhere along the way, our definition of society has been changing. Perhaps we feel a greater sense of control of online friendships over on-life ones. Perhaps actual laughter doesn't quite convey the message as well as LOL's and emoticons. Or perhaps we're just too goddamn lazy to carry on the tradition of Hey-lets-just-meet-up-and-chat-over-an-endless-cuppa-coffee...
I'm not complaining, I get that it's all a part of a 'Blind-Man Walking' kind of progress. And when the wave hits, I'll surf with the rest. But I just wish they wouldn't call it a social experience; because it has evolved far beyond what society ever represented. Maybe they can call it Society 2.0. Or better still, Society Plus.