The Digital Age is Here.

Its so amazing how the digital age has changed just about everything we can comprehend.  Besides making the generation gap far more evident.  I still find it hard to imagine that I now have friends all over the world.  I remember the old days of ‘pen palling’ and how it was such a huge failure with me and my friends, now its alive and well more than ever....

But, I did mention that generation gap thingy.  Many people don’t see how you can have honest to goodness friends who are so far away.  I wonder if its just the idea of not getting the whole instantaneous world wide connection, or the thought of sharing personal and intimate issues with someone you have never met personally can possibly happen.

Oh but it can.  One has to be careful in this digital age, because feeling can manifest quickly, and they can be very strong bonds.  Oddly, the falling out of the quick bond is much easier and faster as well.  And there are so many people out there that can listen to you....

And that’s the main flaw I see in this thing we call the internet, well, in a way.  There might be plenty of people out there to listen, but the ones who actively want to listen, NEED someone to listen to them....  Many people out there are alone, and confiding in the anonymous space of the internet leads to some very odd situations, like people telling you their darkest secrets, and inner most feelings.

I’ve been around the internet since 1994.  Back then it was a different world, and chatrooms were king.  IRC, Internet Relay Chat, is still around, but most don’t know a thing about it.  Most that do, use it for pirating still, but some others still go there to find simple chat.  I found published writers, and a large assortment of interesting characters during my time in the IRC networks.  There was nothing more fun than getting in the #writers channel and doing a night of Round Robin with some serious writers, or Chicken Poetry....

But back in the IRC days is when I really started seeing the problems.  The people that were making HUGE mistakes in their lives and needed to tell someone.  It was worse than any soap opera I could imagine.  I got to meet a plethora of teenagers who were meeting up with some guy and getting knocked up, and then never seeing the guy again....  It was like some weird epidemic, that I’m shocked never got a write up with statistics anywhere....

But all in all, there is much to admire about this internet.  Besides the instant sharing of ideas and information, the chatting and friend making can be something truly amazing.  You can seriously co-author a book with someone on the other side of the planet, or play games and kill massive dragons with 23 of your friends.  There’s nothing quite like a great co-op game, that gives you a sense of accomplishing things with a big group....

Besides, there’s nothing quite like sharing a roughly 500 word essay with the world, just setting it out there, and having people stop by and read it, and hopefully enjoy it.  Yeah, this medium is so much fun.

–Dan