Yes, the title is a mouthful, but it makes you shudder when it really hits you, right?
Just play your daily routine through your head. Now revisit it, but remove any access to the web whatsoever. Are you sweating yet?
Sure, there are millions of people who actually use the internet as part of their work routine; it has become the cornerstone of our global economy. But for most of us it has overthrown television as the recreational outlet of choice.
- Twitter allows us to share every mundane aspect of our lives.
- We can play financial Russian roulette by banking electronically.
- We plan our meals, vacations and even buy movie tickets over the web.
- Some use it to find a mate.
- Some use it because they don’t have a mate… and probably never will.
- You can completely shed your identity – and if you prefer, gender – and embark on a quest of medieval lands.
- Video games have never felt so real.
- Access to news, incorrect weather forecasts and celebrity gossip/sex tapes has never been so immediate.
I’ve only overlooked/missed about a million other uses, but I’ve saved the best for last. From the same college minds that brought you keggers, electronic note sharing and rohypnol, comes the modern wonder known as Facebook!
Now you can reconnect with old friends you barely had any use for way back when, relatives you can’t stand, and even acquaintances like your insurance guy’s half-cousin’s wife! You can run a farm from your living room. Or if you prefer, you can hurl virtual sheep at your loved ones. Facebook has more than 800 million “active users”.
This term kills me. How can someone who sits on their ass for hours at a time be considered “active”?
Nonetheless, I have to concede Facebook’s superiority as a social networking platform and a way for Mark Zuckerberg to actually get laid. It has become an integral part of the daily routine of millions – 800 million and growing to be precise.
Of course, crack has become an integral part of millions of lives as well, but that’s neither here nor there. My point is this: could we survive the loss of the web as a part of global economy and infrastructure? I really don’t know.
But could we survive the loss of the web to our personal ecosystem? Not without a lot of screaming, cursing and self-evaluation.
So whatever you do, run that virus check daily.
#198: Bullies.
I hate them with every fiber of my being.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Bullies are filled with self-loathing and a lack of respect for others and yet, the very thought of someone – of any gender or age – using their strength or power to oppress others sickens me to the core.
We’ve all been bullied at some point; the wounds run deep and can have disastrous consequences. How many young people have taken their own lives in the last few years because they felt completely and utterly alone when faced with the horrors of bullying?
Making their deaths even more tragic is the presence of numerous support systems that keep failing these lost souls.
There is a lot of attention being paid to this subject right now, as recent suicides have drawn the public and lawmakers into the fray. Everyone wants to help, and so articles are written, news reports are filmed, and both victims and former bullies are speaking out.
But to what end?
Has anything really changed in the last few decades? Bullies are still terrorizing their victims while so many others look the other way. I’ll tell what has changed, though; the method by which bullies strike and their gender. Females have turned to bullying in alarming numbers, and they’re using the most effective social networking method of the last decade to reach the widest audience possible.
Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg’s creation has become a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of countless male and female bullies. Most parents refuse to monitor their children’s use of this platform, so bullies are free to write whatever they like about anyone.
I don’t know what else to say; I feel exhausted just writing these words that I know will ultimately change nothing. My little blog is adrift on an ocean of rants, viral videos and celebrity gossip websites. People often say, “If I can reach just one person, I’ll have made a difference.”
One person is not nearly enough.
It’s going to take a society of angry, fed-up, heartsick people to reach inward and stop producing generation after generation of frightened children so filled with self-loathing they lash out at their peers instead of their tormenters.
WE HAVE TO STOP LOOKING THE OTHER WAY AND START FACING THE EPIDEMIC OF BULLYING HEAD-ON.
Related articles
→ 6 Comments
Posted in 100 Terrible Things, Life, Postaweek2011, Social Commentary, Terrible Things, Uncategorized
Tagged Bully, bullying, Child, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Suicide, Violence and Abuse