NB: This is part two of a two-part post. You can read part one here.
“Oh hey, aren’t you on my friends list?!” is one of the most awkward questions I’ve ever been asked by a stranger. And I’ve been asked it repeatedly. One time, a guy on a bus tried to pick me up by giving me his Myspace URL, and asking for mine in return. I thought it was strange, but he was cute, so I obliged. He looked at it, then said, “Oh yeah, I thought I recognised your hoodie; you’re already on my friends list. That bulletin you posted last night was stacks funny.”
It was the beginning of the end of the net as I knew it.
A friend in Boston, Massachusetts commented that my hair had grown. Another in Puerto Rico asked if I’d received her snail mail. Of course, IRL (an acronym for “in real life”, to those of you who actually do have a real life) friends noticed, and asked WTF (what the… well, yeah) was going on.
NO. NO. NO! THE FIRST RULE OF THE INTERNET IS THAT YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT THE INTERNET. (The most disturbing, yet most reliable, rule of the internet is number 34: “There is porn of it. No exceptions.” Please don’t Google this. Just… trust me.)
But of course, the rules were no longer relevant. Internet use had rapidly become the norm for the younger, more technology-savvy generation. It was less about cultural capital and us-and-them, and more about not getting left behind. As web use was assimilated into standardised cultural values, the more technical aspects of nerdosity became acceptable, sometimes even admirable, traits.
The popularity of Myspace and its more sophisticated and staid older sister Facebook is testimony that being a nerd is now socially acceptable. This is reflected in the fact that my IRL friends draw longcat and other memes on each other quite often.
Okay, so my friends are probably also nerds; nevertheless, I have not seen anyone take a socially lubricated (read: drunk) photo in the past year without the subject then proclaiming, “I AM SO GONNA UNTAG THAT!” Whereas once it was etymologically interesting that Google had become a verb, it’s now considered good form to tell someone you will Facebook him or her.
Nowadays, the internet is more about establishing your true identity than it is about hiding behind a false one. It can be a powerful tool for personal and professional advancement, but used incorrectly, it can ruin reputations. And while technology in and of itself is a brave new world for some, for me the new challenge is more about using it for something more useful than photoshopping variants of lolcats, or researching the origins of breakdance.1
So go ahead and add me on Facebook. But, um. Not Livejournal: I don’t add people I know IRL there.2
1. This is actually the best thing on the internet, ever, trust me. You should definitely watch it with volume up.
2. LOL!
