Gridlock

So I've been, ostensibly, off the grid for about a week now. That turn of phrase however, doesn't hold the weight it used to. Way back in the day (1998?) when someone said they are going "off the grid" it generally meant they were leaving their house for an extended period of time, possibly to some remote-ish location, where the mere thought of connectivity with the outside world was a complete joke. Now it doesn't matter where you go; the entire united states is pretty close to one big wifi hot-spot; everyone has a cell phone; most people have cell phones that have the entire internet on them; everyone has a laptop that's wifi capable... so if your off the grid you have to be making a serious concerted effort. And if you're someone who has a blog, a twitter account, a facebook account, a digg feed, subscriptions to multiple RSS feeds, a Tumblr profile, etc, etc, (you get the idea) and all of a sudden you stop posting, or even slow down your posting pace, than you are making a bold statement about your distaste for the social medias as a whole; because we all know that it's probably easier to stay connected to all of these things than it is to escape them... even for a couple days. So when I said I was, ostensibly, off the grid, I meant more that I was only writing/checking on my blog/twitter/facebook one to three times per day.

I think the main issue for me is the fear that these social networks are each chipping away at our sense of reality. The more we immerse ourselves in them the easier it is to become dependent on them. The opiate of over-connectivity. We develop connections and create relationships which are based entirely on the exchange of digital typefaces viewed on liquid crystal displays. What happened to steadfast, three dimensional, reality?

....

Well despite the overarching hypocrisy I'll be posting with renewed vigor once again (including daily updates on the state of Mr. Glove).