I have been gradually familiarizing myself with the Facebook universe - and am amazed by just how much the physical word has been condensed by Facebook.
Some of us experienced childhood during the 1960s. In those days, from a child's perspective, the world had a maximum radius of fifteen miles. Within those fifteen miles was the grocery store, the church, the school, the public library - and ninety -nine percent of our friends.
The other one percent of friends was comprised of those who slipped into the outer universe, those whose families moved to a distant town or state, and who actually remained in touch - for a little while anyway. But keeping in touch usually meant letters or post cards and gradually facial recognition faded.
The majority of friends who moved away simply disappeared into the black hole that lay waiting in the universe.
Today's Facebook world keeps our friends not only in the neighborhood but in our living rooms - face's and all.
Suddenly the world is just that - the world - not fifteen miles. And the universe - well it still has black holes - but our friends no longer risk being sucked into them.
No comments:
Post a Comment