How the Internet affects people's lifestyles, or something.

While browsing on CNN the other night, I saw a section devoted to a blog. Usually I don't give a damn, but I felt inclined to learn about this one. It's called The Public Isolation Project. It involves a woman in her early 20's living openly on a city block. It was a store that was going to become an art gallery. She is constantly on display, besides when in the bathroom. While in there, she may only interact with people via things such as her cell phone, Skype, Facebook, etc. Only electronic. She is also not allowed to leave the gallery, so it's almost as if she's throwing herself into the life of a complete shut-in. The project is to last 30 days, with the end date being the first of December. She has experienced many different emotions, and has brought up some very interesting points about how social networking sites and indirect socializing is approached by different generations. I'm so interested in the project that I plan on contacting her soon. It's based in downtown Portland, which I go to at least once a year, and the street she is on I've walked up and down many a time.

It seems that with each newer generation, there is a larger presence of communication via technology, less face-to-face socializing. Being an 18 year old college student, Facebook is really pre-dominant. If I were a few years older, I would have more interest in keeping a blog, and the people around me would actually have them (it seems that almost no-one does but I). Facebook and other socializing sites just seemed like a good way to share different things from the Internet with friends and broadcast certain topics with them. Now that I've moved away to college, I can actually see how it keeps people feeling somewhat attached still (case in point: Johnny and I). But to all of the high-schoolers back in Zillah, what's the point? You're more than likely to run into someone you know every time you get gas or go to the grocery store, and nearly everyone lives within a 5 minute drive of each other. For my peers, it seems like the Internet doesn't have much of a presence in their life besides Facebook. It would be almost like that for me if I didn't frequent that guitar forum, particularly the music forums governing the metal and hardcore genres.

Texting goes along with the networking hand-in-hand. I remember when I was around 15 or 16 it would be weird to not be constantly texting someone, and now I only text people to organize things we're going to actually do with each other. I'm not sure if it was me maturing, or just learning that I can get more enjoyment out of actual interaction versus a displayed message.

It seems that the people who get the most involved in Internet socializing around around my age, or in their late 30's or 40's. It seems that the older people were really hesitant to put out that much information, possibly from a lesser understanding of how to control it and what to throw out into the ether. But sometimes this caution gets breached by curiosity, which can be seen through my dad. He used to not use the computer besides checking his e-mail, but about a year ago he joined Facebook. He is on it quite a bit, and when he's away he continues to manage it on his Blackberry. Maybe it just takes the older generations a small period of understanding before they become more open to new technological hobbies.

Thanksgiving break started for me yesterday at around 1:45, and I wasn't supposed to be home until the afternoon today. There were only a handful of people left in my dorm, including me, it was as if someone we all knew had died. Thankfully, three of my friends spontaneously decided to drive up to Ellensburg from Zillah and picked me up. It's always great to once again see the people that I hung out with throughout high school. I surprised most of my family with my presence, who thought I would not be home until Wednesday afternoon. I didn't actually get home until about midnight, when everyone was going to bed or already in bed. I enjoyed the calmness and played with my cat and dog. Then I read all 22 logs of that blog I previously mentioned, did random Internet surfing, and posted this!

Yesterday, my friends and I conducted about a 5 hour project outside, it which we made:

a roughly 6 foot tall snow igloo/fort. It's glorious. It was light out when we started, and obviously pitch black when it was finished. I didn't do much other than that and sleep. I was up until about 4am watching the whole Korea situation, which was making me paranoid for a while. I wasn't so much scared of nukes as I was of the slight chance of a draft being issued. Seems like everything is dying down for the most part, though.

Music, music, music. I feel like sharing my last.fm profile, so here it is. Last.fm is an online site that keeps track of all your music listening and makes charts of it, and directs you towards similar artists and when they are touring near you. They also set up streaming radio stations, which can be compared to Pandora, but don't suck like Pandora's. They get way more in-depth than Pandora's, and don't bitch at you for skipping a couple of songs in an hour. I had a small stint of nostalgia when the first song I ever learned to play on guitar came up on it earlier tonight, Audioslave's I Am The Highway.