But I Might Miss Something

When about twenty, my son would spend as much time at the local pub for fear of missing something – mea culpa, I was the same at his age – and spent a lot of his hard-earned doing so. I pointed out that he wouldn’t miss anything at all, at which he laughed scornfully; what could I know, eh? Until I pointed out the logic: if he wasn’t there, nothing could happen that could affect him, so if it couldn’t happen, it wouldn’t, so there would be nothing to miss. Strangely enough, he listened and now has his own house.

Despite the pressure and the hype, it may well be that we’re not going to miss anything on social media if we don’t get our usual five minute fix. Whilst undeniably social media is here to stay and has the potential to be very useful, we’re still early doors for this type of communication. Inevitably, the techno-quacks will peddle us digital snake oil until such time as they a) get rumbled, b) some other, funkier alternative competitor shows up or c) users get bored. Anyone remember MySpace?

As far as I can see, there seems a preoccupation amongst the current batch of social media users ‘to be noticed’. I genuinely do wonder why. The only people I wish to notice me, and whose opinions a give a fig for are, in this order, my family, my friends and those with whom I work. Why should I concern myself with what a stranger thinks of me? Anonymity means freedom; I can meet a total stranger without any preconceptions on either side, then both parties can make their own minds up either way. Just like we’ve been doing things since the year dot.