Big Show

In short response to the article by Chaudhry, I have my own observations to add. The biggest thing I pulled from the piece is everyones infatuation with micro-celebrity; either real or imagined. This infatuation leads to destructive self-centered points of view that encase the individual in a cocoon that does not blossom into a butterfly. The new internet crowd that plays favorites to teeny-bop sites such as Myspace and YouTube are taken in by the sheer stupidity of most human acts (YouTube), and the severe social deviation of disconnected, disenfranchised, text sore fingered, downloadable teenagers (Myspace). But that’s the adults. The harm is being done to the immature minds of adolescents. Every teenager thinks they know what is going on, and feel they can judge a situation with the life experience of their parents, but wisdom is not granted with puberty.
This problem expands to a real disconnection with reality, something that hinges on manic behavior, and it can have permanent effects that resurface when the crowd comes “of age”. Relationships are reduced to cyber-friends, such as the example in the article. People you really don’t know, and really have no intention of ever meeting, but somehow remember it’s your birthday. After accumulating this large following of “friends”, a digital camera becomes a dangerous tool in the life of an online “ghost” of your real identity. It seems some of the most negative aspects of a Myspace account is what photos one is willing to post to their space. Just ask the beauty queen who really thought her photos on Facebook were private.
In all fairness to you teens and twenty somethings, I didn’t grow-up with the same type of tools to live an alternate life in front of millions. I think I would have enjoyed it, the networking opportunities are endless. But I am old-fashioned, I like to hear real laughter in response to my jokes, I was a warm-up comic at a comedy club in Cleveland back in the ’90s. I like to hear real applause for my performances, I was an actor and played in a popular band back in the day. The internet was for computer geeks and fat guys who read comic books back then (still is), so it left real life to be played with by the rest of us. I had real friends, a lot of friends, all over the US, and I actually talked to them face to face, been to their houses, helped them moved, went to movies, went to see live shows, had a cup of coffee with.
But don’t think I’m getting down on all of you who indulge in texting, IM, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and the like. Mtv rotted my brain in the ’80s, I’m just bitter because I had to wait up to two days and sometimes a week to see my favorite video again(yes, Mtv used to show videos….all the time).