As the bonds of society and place have fallen away, we have become increasingly disconnected individuals. The lone person, who has his family and his workmates, then faces the choice of who his personal friends are. We can meet everybody, but where is the meaningful connection?
This deep felt need is best reflected in the immediate generation. They are characterised by a single label – Myspace. This is the place where they construct their digital identity, network with interesting others, stay in constant global touch. Our youth feel this deep need to reach out, and connect.
That is their solution. Increasingly, adults faced with this same anomie, have found their own workarounds. A huge roster of email addresses is one way, this fantastic community of WordPressers is another. We all have our faces here, and our opinions. We contribute to each others lives by reading, commenting, bantering. We share an online existence.
We have become a digital tribe.
Ideas Man 
January 23, 2007 at 5:19 pm |
I probably spend too much time in Blogopolis, however, I really enjoy posting my thoughts, contacting likeminded folks, and talking with folks that I have almost nothing in comon with, but whom I respect just the same. The free exchange of ideas is a positive thing. One day it will most likely be regulated and even used against the cause of democracy, but for now, I enjoy it much.
January 23, 2007 at 11:45 pm |
I was just discussing this last night with my friend who cannot relate at all to her friends who have online friends. I told her I have both and find them equally important. Before blogging, I felt very isolated by my introversion and by the fact that few people understand me. I’m an INFP pantheist/Taoist deeply committed to Jungian depth work. The people in my physical world…most of them find me to be eccentric, weird.
As soon as I started a blog, I drew to me a circle of other introverted and highly intuitive women who now support me, as I support them. And there is crossover from cyber village to face-time. One online friend will soon be my housemate.
The blogosphere has changed my life, given me an outlet for my creative writing energy, has brought me friends and has helped me feel more okay about who I am. K
January 24, 2007 at 12:08 am |
Thank you Kelly. I have found your writing style to be quite unique. It has a perfect simplicity to it. At times my words get wrapped around themselves, and it starts reading like Latin or German. I dare say it even gets unreadable at times, so I appreciate your straightforward unfolding of words. There I go again 🙂
ggw
January 24, 2007 at 2:14 am |
Good post. You make a great point. WordPress has allowed me to carve out an online sangha. The time that I spent blogging has served as an important part of my practice both as a remembrance and a means to connect with other like minded people.
January 24, 2007 at 3:11 am |
Hi, thanks for adding me. Good post. I agree. Aristotle and some more modern philosophers says that we humans are social creatures, and I think I agree with that. Though I’m not sure I agree with utilitarians that we prefer “savage independence” to being in a unified group, as Mill says in “Utilitarianism.” Do we depend on one more than the other? I know I like feeling independent but I also like being around people and I know that I’d be very lonely if it was only me all the time.
Light
January 24, 2007 at 6:16 am |
“We have become a digital tribe” … and our lives can transcend our physical boundaries…
That suits me fine…
Ideas…. man
January 24, 2007 at 6:34 am |
You finished the sentence for me!
thanks homey … ra
🙂
January 24, 2007 at 7:40 pm |
I feel that now some of us don’t take efforts to spend time to understand people who have different opinions from us as we can find like-minded persons online. It has a danger of confirming and enforcing our opinions, flawed or not. As I am reading the book “Under the Banner of Heaven”, I find myself wonder how easy people can be manipulated online now as opposed to 200 years ago when people had to make enormous efforts to do so. We need to have balance and check, like our democracy system. I do enjoy your posts and comments though. 🙂
January 25, 2007 at 2:18 pm |
rlao, I fully agree. There is the possibility of the online tribe quickly becoming an online gang. When people join a group, and then defer to it’s leader, it becomes about power.
We love the internet because it has returned a bit of choice back to the individual. We shouldn’t hand that choice back to anyone, even those we really like 🙂
ggw