The defining aspect of my decade? The internet. In 2000, I created my first email address. In 2005, I created my first weblog.I have lived these last ten years online in many ways. From arranging msn conversations with school friends, to joining a forum of web friends, to tagging faces of university friends, the internet has been an essential part of almost all of my relationships outside of family.
In 2009, I first met someone I had previously only spoken to on the internet. It's not such a big deal, it happens all the time nowadays. But for me, it is. I never planned to be this person and I'm not sure quite how it came about. One of the odd things about the internet interaction deal is that it's so very simple to go right back and see where you started. It began with a blog which grew into comment contact and then email exchange followed by msn moments until bam! Three years down the line and suddenly you're meeting up in person?
What I like most about the internet is that you can have friends whereever you go in the world. They may be friends you never see, but they are always there. A constant. And in a life where your path weaves all over the land, moving up and down, going out of your mind and growing into yourself, it's nice to know there is always a virtual home you can come back to, and it will be the same, whatever your surroundings or situation in reality. I have a blog and it's ridiculous to place so much emphasis on something so...inanimate, but golly, I don't know what I would have done without it, sometimes.
Because sometimes, when you feel like this, you need it. You just need to talk into the abyss, and know, that even if someone isn't nodding, or smiling, even if they can't offer a hug or a hand, they have read and maybe, they understand. And that's a comfort, that is.
I know I'm alone if I'm with or without you,
But just being around you offers me another form of relief.
But just being around you offers me another form of relief.
Happy 2nd Birthday, Flitterbee.
On the jukebox: Butterfly Boucher ~ Life Is Short
I love my blog for that. When I feel a bit like whining but don't want to have to go into detail or get too much sympathy and it's absolutely enough to know I'm being read and hopefully understood, it's wonderful. It's a brilliant ego boost when you see that a strangely large number of people have read what you have to say about God or university or sex or something. I love the friendships I have that seem to flourish online and then you meet those people and it's different entirely but also wonderfully familiar in this deliciously weird way in real life - I've only met two or three people offline that I basically first met on the internet but it's always been wonderful. I love the fact that yes, those friends are always there, just a click away, and maybe you don't get an immediate response but you can reach them no matter where you are in the world. Personally I love the internet and I think it's a wonderful tool. Sadly there's great capacity for procrastination there too, but I'm getting better at that, and meanwhile, well, it brings so much that is worthwhile into my life. I don't understand people who say that because we live so much of our lives online these days that this in any way devalues or detracts from the time we do spend actually interacting with people in the real world - not at all. If anything it adds to it. It's nice to know that at a great party or after a holiday as a group you'll be able to come back later and reminisce over the pictures you've taken and shared with your friends - that yes, those things really did happen and they are now there forever captured online, somehow.
ReplyDeleteThat was brilliantly written, you've got a great way with words and have managed to succinctly say what would take me a rambling epic to try and convey!
ReplyDeleteAnd in the spirit of the internet and all things bloggy, I've tagged you in an award so come and pick it up!