Gonna Get Myself Connected

VLT ran an article today discussing how more and more people are living out their social lives on the Internet. Some 100 000 Swedes are now members of some sort of social internet site and these sites are becoming a more integrated part of our social lives so that there is less of a distinction between the friends you meet in the flesh and the friend you meet online.

Ten years ago this phenomena was purely for the geeks, but now anybody and create a life for themselves on the net. Both my wife and I write bloggs, I have accounts on social networking sites Friends Reunited and Facebook and my wife also publishes pictures on Flickr.

I use this blogg to just sound off about stuff I see around me and most of the time it feels like I’m having a conversation with somebody over coffee, even though I have no idea who you are reading this right now…(also, you don’t get to interrupt me, which is nice :o).

Facebook is different though, as I use it to keep in touch with friends back in the UK who I have not seen for years. You can use it to chat to people and upload pictures of what you are doing or where you have been and see what your friends have been up to, you can also send people virtual fish if they have a virtual aquarium and even start a virtual food fight! I rarely ever ring me friends back in the UK now, as all our conversations are done over the internet.

I wonder though what it will be like in 15 years time, when my kids are teenagers and bulky computers and keyboards will be old technology…

‘Look, son, you are not getting a Web4.0 Brain Implant and that’s final!’