Much has been discussed about what effect the current spate of Web 2.0 companies (god, I’m getting sick of that term) are doing to change both how the Internet works and how we approach our use of the web in our daily lives.
For me, the thing that’s most intriguing and off-putting to me is the increasing focus on actual human interaction. Whether it’s through user participatory news portals, link sharing sites or social networking, the net is starting to feel more and more like a community. Also it’s much easier to keep in contact with people through a huge variety of communication formats and tools. This is all great stuff, but the bitter misanthrope in me starts to get really twitchy, really quick.
I love email. I get the info from people I need, I can respond on my own time and think through responses and actually express what it is I want to say. Instant Messaging drives me absolutely bat-shit insane. IM has great bennefits but nine times out of ten when I see the little icon bobbing up and down from my Dock I get a flash of that feeling one gets when one runs into an old High School acquaintance at the super market and are abliged to conduct in 10 minutes of worthless small talk when all one wanted was to grab some CornNuts and a six pack and get back to vegging out in front of the television. Plus it interupts concentration, workflow and other business-y type buzz words.
How accessable/findable do I really want to be? How much of myself do I want to put out there on the interweb? How much do I want to concern myself with arguments among message-board trolls?
Overall though, I think the new level of actual human interactivity is a good thing. No one’s forcing you to participate so you do have a bit of controll of how much it will affect you. I think the most important thing is to allow yourself time to get off the grid once in a while, but to also allow the time to really get jacked in. Sometimes even the most seemingly unwanted interaction can turn into something great down the line.
