http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number
While watching BBC's special series about the Internet, I was introduced to the concept of Dunbar's number. The concept basically states that each individual can only maintain relations with 150 other individuals. So in effect, why do I have more people in the social networking sites that I am part of? In fact there is truth in the matter that in Facebook I interact with just a handful of people, in Twitter, a couple, and in Linkedin even fewer. The most interaction I had with social networks were already here in Google+ and that was because I started early with the platform. But I don't really interact much with the online community, except for people that I already know or I have interacted with face to face.
It's amazing that a decade ago, when the web was powered by dial-up modems and the means of social networking were chatrooms, there used to be a much used acronym in chat which was "IRL" or "in real life". This term I have now seldom seen used because it seems like "generation web" has already moved in to full life adaption of the web. We used to imagine and laugh at scenarios of life without electricity, and now the same goes true with imagining life without the web. We have now made the internet much a part of our daily lives that some people have even made it their means of living.
And yet do we believe that the value exchange for something instant compared for something worked for, for something virtual compared to something I could experience with all senses, Or for something free in exchange for us providing our identity out to strangers worth having the web? What comes to mind is how we people strive to make machines more human. But what if with all the data mining tools, the comprehension and suggestion engines, and the thought alteration algorithms, we are becoming more machines than humans. Ask yourselves, don't you feel the hesitation at the thought of becoming unplugged? How different is it from giving vacuum cleaners feelings and you trying to turn them off or remove their plug? Is this the "Ghost in the Machine"?
Well I do believe that we have comeby the power of the web as a great tool and technology. And like precious technologies before it, human choice and intelligence will be it's limits for it being used for good or for harm. Similarly it would be our freewill that would dictate how much of our lives will be taken up by the internet, and how much are we willing to give it in the future.
I am not sure if in the future I'd still be alive to witness physically being plugged in to the net, or applications that would allow me to surf in my sleep, or even I/O peripherals that would provide me the 360 degree sense experience. And I do believe that these are things that are laid out in our near future. But for now besides the web that assists me, i am content with knowing that I can have 150 true people in my life that I can interact with, hold my hands with, love with, and talk to with face to face in the comfort of my personal space. I intend to develop my emotional bank account with this people on the web or out of it. And how about you, do you have 150 friends or a thousand mouse clicks?
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