#752: Are we wasting the Internet?

So, how did this amazing technological marvel the Internet become an overloaded storehouse of "Check out this too-cute pic of my kid/my grandkid/my dog/my cat/my hairdresser"? When did it turn from this fabulous, formless outpouring of the power of the Freedom Of Speech into just another chance to Sell You Something 24/7?
My God, some people even use it to post music and book reviews....
When did it all get so stupid and pointless? When did it get all filled up with YouTube videos of people doing Really Stupid Stuff, meaningless celebrity tweets, and of course porn? (Oh, THAT's been there from the beginning....)
Why aren't we using it to complain about all the things that bug us? I mean really BITCH about how rotten so much of life seems to be today?
Maybe because we know no one would ever comment or respond? Because the Net's supposed to be an escape from all that boring, meaningless, bad shit? Because the last thing we want in the privacy of our own homes is someone getting in our face about how bad everything is?
The Net's been used to complain and protest elsewhere. During the Arab Spring, apparently the demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square used Twitter to stay up-to-date on what was happening during all-night protests -- maybe so they wouldn't be shot or hauled away by the Egyptian Army.
I'm sure there must be other examples. My understanding is that Twitter's relied on more now as a source for breaking news than for anything else.
Maybe if we weren't mostly so fat and comfortable here in America, we could find something more useful to do with the Internet. Like take out our frustrations with the way things are -- get them out there, talk 'em over, kick 'em around. Sure beats picking up a gun and shooting people until someone finally LISTENS, right?
Maybe something good could happen. There are a LOT of things that strike me as wrong, these days. Not that I have much to complain about -- I've got a job, and I'm typing on a laptop some people could never afford, so why should I complain?
But look around.
*NO JOBS -- How many million Americans are STILL out of work? Why? When Obama introduces a Jobs Bill in Congress, and even HIS OWN PARTY tells him "Mr. President, this ain't gonna fly," well WTF? The Feds did work programs during the Great Depression and World War II that put millions of people back to work building roads and bridges and dams -- why not repair all the infrastructure nationwide that's falling apart? Why is this so hard to get going? Is it just because the president can only do so much without the support of Congress?
*TAXES -- Good Lord. Be grateful you're not in Washington state, where the gas tax is at least 52 cents a gallon, the alcohol tax is something like 28 percent (I don't drink), and the tax on each pack of cigarettes is THREE BUCKS. And they're talking about raising it another dollar. (I don't smoke, either.) And all the money's supposed to go to roads and schools. There's no evidence the tax money's going there at all.
*HEALTH CARE -- Despite the "Affordable Care Act," health care in this country is still only for those who can afford it. Don't kid yourself. And the health-care-insurance providers are probably still thanking Obama for sending them millions of new customers.
*OBAMA -- Speaking of which, does anyone believe a word he says anymore?
*SURVEILLANCE -- Of course some of your taxes are being used so your government can keep track of everything you say on your cellphone or do on the Internet 24/7. Not to mention those surveillance cameras and drones everywhere. Which means this blog will probably be shut down tomorrow. Nice talkin' to 'ya. If George Orwell (1984, look it up) could have seen 2014, he would have shit his pants.
*THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE -- It's already happened. Two-thirds of the people who walk into my store every day are zombies, folks you can't get a word out of, who stare straight ahead and hardly ever say anything. Give 'em their gas and their smokes and their beer, and they're on their way. Wonder what they're so scared of? And what are they like at home?
*MOVIES -- Have you noticed practically every "big" movie that comes out these days is some over-the-top science-fiction/fantasy/war movie or action flick that has absolutely no connection to the real world? It's as if moviemakers don't WANT you to think about reality, ever. It's just too horrible. Movies always were about escaping reality for a couple hours, but.... Most movies set in the real world these days die a quick death. And you'll be able to get 'em all on Blu-Ray and DVD in a couple months anyway, so....
*MUSIC -- Jesus Christ I'm BORED. I've heard a couple interesting new bands since the turn of the year, thanks to SOUND OPINIONS, but most music on the radio these days bores me shitless. How did it ever GET this bad? Or am I just too freakin' old?
*RUDENESS -- Why is everyone in such a goddamned HURRY? And what the hell are they so ANGRY about?
*IDIOTS SHOOTING PEOPLE -- Why don't they just shoot THEMSELVES FIRST and save everybody some grief?
*GLOBAL WARMING -- Is it or isn't it? Step outside....
*MONEY -- Supposedly Seattle's on the cutting-edge of the push for a $15 per hour minimum wage. Yeah, Seattle's expensive, but there are lots of other places you could live. I don't think Economics is based on the idea that all you have to do to get the wage you want is keep demanding it until Management caves in.
I'm looking forward to my pay raise to $15 an hour -- that means an increase of about $1,200 per month for me, before taxes. I could use it. But I ain't holding my breath for it.
And you? What's pissing you off lately? Would love to hear some informed responses to this....

#622: The poster-child for stressing-out

Late August, 1999. Two days after my 40th birthday. After taking my first week off from work in 3 years, by 8:30 am Monday I'm back at my desk, trying to pull-together the next issue of the small weekly newspaper I've been editing since May.
It's an absolutely normal Monday. There's a lot of work to do, a big pile of paperwork in front of me, & nobody did much to prepare for the next issue while I was gone. But I've been working 50+ hours a week since May, so I'm getting used to it. Everything is going exactly as I expected.
But I'm having trouble with it.
By 9:30 am I start to hyperventilate. I can't relax. My hands and arms are getting all tingly. I can't stop panting for breath. I call a therapist I've been talking to about work-related stress and marriage problems. He recommends getting out of the building and getting something to eat.
But I can't leave -- there's too much work to do. I can't push it off on my co-workers, either -- they're wrapped-up in their own work. I try eating. It doesn't help. I try organizing a long schedule of events for a quickly-approaching town festival, the one thing that MUST be on the next front page. But I can't focus. I can't MAKE it make sense. I can't even get the list of happenings typed.
I drink some water. I try to walk around a little, but my legs are all wobbly. My arms are going numb. My heart is racing. And I can't slow down my breathing.
I call my therapist back. He ORDERS me to get out of the building. But it's too late.
At noon, I ask our receptionist if she could do me a favor and call my wife. And an ambulance. I can't seem to do it myself. I can't breathe. I can't get enough air. For some reason it seems like there will be more air on the floor, so I go there.
By 12:15 I'm stretched out on my back on the office floor, still hyperventilating. My arms are numb, my hands locked into fists. My legs are cramping and folding up. I moan for someone to help me, but nobody will even come talk to me.
At the edge of my vision, I can see the head of the reporter I just hired, standing nearby, watching, but she won't get closer. I'm scaring her. I'm scaring myself. I can hear phones ringing and people talking and Monday going on, but I'm stuck on the floor alone and I can't move. I'm left to gasp and flop like a fish. I'm helpless.
Finally an EMT appears & I try to tell her what's wrong. Another EMT appears, they put me on a gurney & I'm wheeled outside into an ambulance. I notice vaguely that a crowd has gathered. My co-workers are calling my name and telling me to hang in there. My wife has appeared and says she'll follow me to the hospital.
In the ambulance, the EMTs give me SOMETHING & try to determine if I'm having a heart attack. I'm SURE that's what's happening. I'm convinced that I'm gonna die, 2 days after my 40th birthday.
In the emergency room, they run tests & try to bring my breathing under control. They have to teach me how to breathe again. It takes awhile.
When I'm stable, they admit me to the hospital & put me in the cardiac critical care unit til they determine if I've had a heart attack. It looks like I'm gonna be there for awhile.
My wife appears, and we cry all over each other. We both note the timing of this "attack," & without trying 2 make Too Big A Deal out of it, we both wonder if I've been pushing things too hard & if somebody's trying to send me A Message.
She stays for awhile, then has to leave to go check on the kids. She sez she'll bring me back something to read in case I'm stuck here overnight.
And as soon as she leaves, I'm overcome by the most intense feelings of RELIEF that I've possibly ever felt -- as if this bed, in this place, is EXACTLY where I wanted to be, exactly where I was headed from the moment I woke up this morning. It's safe & quiet here. And someone else is gonna havta run the newspaper for me.
And then I cry like a baby.
Eventually, 1 of the ER docs comes in & tells me I DIDN'T have a heart attack -- I had an anxiety attack. A nurse tells me they can prescribe some anti-anxiety meds, but they won't solve my problem -- that my problem is whatever's kicking around in my head.
Then they release me.
I take a day off to think it over, then go to work on Weds & resign as the editor. But I offer to work as a full-time reporter to make up for it. This is a mistake, but I was always happier writing full-time anyway.
I try the anti-anxiety meds, & once I get used to the "zombie effect," they're not bad -- I feel like me with all the stress removed. It's sorta enjoyable.
But the stress continues -- there's just as much, if not more, with reporting full-time. & I knew that. But this is my 1st step in moving away from my 20-year career in journalism. & it takes me 2 more years to give up & get out of it entirely.

Don't let this happen to you. If you're in a high-stress job that overworks you to the point of breakdown, get away from it. Figure out some other way to pay your bills. Don't give your life to a career where nobody keeps score. Because the things you'll lose are things you might never get back -- spouse, children, possibly your health, maybe your life. It ain't worth it.
I was stupid. Looking back, I wish I hadn't sold myself so cheap. & I wish I'd known I was living The Good Life while I was IN it....

#608: Where I live (Part 2)

Port Orchard, Washington, probably WAS a really nice place 2 live, 15 years ago. Now it has most of the problems of any major city, in a town of just under 12,000 people.
Local writer Debbie Macomber has sorta immortalized the place in her "Cedar Cove" series of best-selling romance novels, but I wonder how much of the Dark Side she sees. I should pick up 1 of her novels & find out.
I know what I see....
Located just south of Navy-city Bremerton & about 20 miles northwest of Tacoma, Port Orchard is a rapidly-growing town that's also the county seat 4 Kitsap County. Tho there R 12,000 people within the city limits, there's probly another 10,000 living in the south end of Kitsap who pour in2 PO 2 do their shopping & other business. There R only about 4 direct 2-lane roads in & out of town, & all of them connect 2 the freeway. As a result, the roads R jammed most daylight hours, with bumper-to-bumper traffic during Rush Hour.
& on Friday nights starting about 4 pm, you can pretty much FORGET about getting around easily....
I live & work along Bethel Road, a nothing-fancy 2-lane that should've been widened years ago -- it's 1 of the main roads thru the south end of town.
Bethel's lined with stores like WalMart, Fred Meyer, Safeway, RiteAid, Walgreen's, & supposedly more R coming. There've been rumors about a Costco or Home Depot coming in 4 years. All the current residential property along Bethel has been re-zoned 4 commercial development, but the boom hasn't happened as fast as residents thot.
It took 5 years 2 get city & county clearance 2 "super-size" the WalMart a mile down the road, & the traffic was already murder B4 the larger store opened. 1 recent week, there were 3 injury-involved car wrecks at the major intersection where I work.
A few months back, a huge crash just up the hill from the gas station where I work left 1 of our Regulars using a cane to walk. He was in the hospital for weeks & almost died. The driver of the other car was drunk, & bounced off 1 car B4 he totaled R Regular's truck. The Regular said he couldn't avoid it -- there was nowhere 2 go.
I've been keeping him updated on car wrecks near the store ever since, & we agree something's gotta change. He thinks tougher DWI laws will help -- but they're already pretty tough. & expensive.
I sometimes rant at work about how I wish people would SLOW DOWN a little. There's no real good reason 4 all the rushing around I see each day & people might B happier or less frenzied if they'd slow down a step. 1 Regular over the weekend told me "That's just the way it is." A blog post I read a couple years ago announced that "Slow is the new fast." Well, not here. & Good Luck selling it.
I'm not sure why a suburb, a bedroom community with 12,000 people, thinks it's Seattle. Maybe Bcos that's supposedly where all the Good Times are...? Every weekend, the train of cars heading over the hill 2 the east, 2 the ferry going 2 Seattle, stretches on 4 MILES. A good number of people who live here apparently commute there every day. Even more drive the 7 miles north, winding around the bay 2 jobs in Bremerton. I've been told that commute is even worse each day than the backup traffic we've got in PO.
Meanwhile, housing prices here R way 2 high -- even in a depressed market -- but they keep building more. Who can afford those houses? Who's buying them? Where do they work?
The state taxes EVERYTHING -- everybody in Washington has their hand out. It's EXPENSIVE 2 live here, & Wash has the highest minimum-wage in the country. I wonder why everything's so expensive -- what DRIVES it?
The state's voters recently approved legalizing up to an ounce of marijuana in your possession 4 personal use -- the state thinks they can tax the SHIT out of it (at a 40-percent tax rate, even higher than the state's cigarette tax), regulate it, & make MILLIONS of $$$ in new tax revenue ... if the feds don't stomp on it 1st.
I don't partake myself, & don't really care much -- & if you move here you still won't B able 2 smoke pot in public. But some voters seem 2 think this new cash stream will magically reduce the state's 8+ percent sales tax & other taxes. Don't hold your breath. I've yet 2 see a tax the state won't drop without a fight.
Besides, with possession of pot becoming legal in a few days I'm sure there'll B more cops out on the road looking 4 stoned drivers. & 2 B honest, there R 2 many police here already. In 1 recent arrest in our parking lot, a belligerent driver provoked HALF A DOZEN police cars 2 respond in less than 2 minutes. They must have wanted the guy BAD. I've been here 10 years & I've never seen a police response like that 4 1 PERSON....
Meanwhile, what else R we getting with our tax $$$? "Everybody" seems 2 know where the bad drug neighborhoods R -- supposedly there R 2 within a few blocks of my house. If I take a "wrong" turn on my street, I'm told I'll be drifting in2 a druggie neighborhood & any cop following me will pull me over just 4 that. Luckily I haven't experienced this. Yet....
Meanwhile, these neighborhoods R left alone, even tho "everybody" knows where they R. The meth freaks who R most definitely here R left 2 plot their own ruin apparently without interference -- unless they cause a scene in public. & then, Good Luck. The meth problem appears WAY less than it was 7+ years ago -- back then I got some1 UP on something in2 the store EVERY nite. Now I'm suprised if it happens more than 1nce a week.
So what R the police, county deputies & state patrolmen in my neighborhood doing? Looking for drunk drivers & writing occasional speeding tickets, near as I can tell. In 9 years at my job, where I've had 2 make numerous emergency calls, I've learned that police & fire crews will respond 4 a car wreck -- tho it may take them a few minutes. & that's with a fire station a 2-minute drive down the street.
But until some1 points a gun at me or threatens me with a knife, I have NO FAITH that the police will respond 2 any other issues I report. I've been threatened B4 -- & it took the cops 1/2anhour 2 show up. By then the idiots were long gone....
So I'm pretty clear that I'm On My Own. I try 2 B Careful. So far, a friendly attitude, a little joking around, & some decent music on the store stereo has fended-off most Problems. But sometime, when I have an Off Night....
It's all just points on a curve anyway. The highschools here look EXACTLY like prisons ... which is maybe where The Folks In Charge think most of R kids R gonna end up. 1/2 the people I see every day carry Food Stamp cards, & they're almost always the folks with the fattest wallets & the newest cars. As a member of The Working Poor, that's a gravy train I wouldn't mind getting on -- as long as I don't have to do anything Illegal.
I don't know how things got like this -- upside down & unfair & brutal & fast-fast-fast. Maybe I'm just old & out of touch. But not much of it seems Good, or good for people. Which is why I end up running 2 this blog 4 refuge. Until I let the ugly stuff in....

#607: Where I live (Part 1)

(This rant probly would fit better over at THE GAS NAZI!, but whatthehell. I'm under the gun here, & this site gets a LOT more looks than The Nazi. So....)

Another WONDERFUL nite at work, 1 of the worst nites in months. A non-stop screaming blur from start 2 finish, & we didn't even make that much $$$. My customers at the gas station have been pretty mellow recently, but tonite many of them were rude & in a hurry. Must be Holiday Stress.
But I still think something about Living Here drives people crazy. Something about the pace of life -- the 24-hour go-go-go rush-rush-rush, we had Thanksgiving, let's go do Black Friday, now we gotta get a Christmas tree, what's next on the list?
& we wonder why we're raising a generation (or 2) of maladjusted, grumpy, dissatisfied, rude, short-tempered, in-a-hurry young people. Some of whom can barely speak English. Many of whom have to be medicated 2 get thru the day.
I saw a guy freak-out tonite in a display of impatience & rage the likes of which I haven't seen in MONTHS. & he wasn't mad at ME. He was mad because his nite wasn't Going Right.
Young guy, maybe 20, a little short, tattoos all up and down his forearms, came into the store & asked to use the phone because his newly-purchased cellphone wouldn't work. Talked to the cellphone company, they couldn't help him. Punched in some numbers on a card he had -- phone still wouldn't activate. Meanwhile, a woman he was with screamed at him from the parking lot. Sounded like gibberish.
"She's been doing that ALL NIGHT," he said. "Being mean to me. Wants to get gas with MY money."
Kept messing with his phone, then said "Sure wish I could get some smokes, that'd be good." He didn't have any ID on him. "I'm 20." He looked closer to 16, but in lite of his tattoos, I was willing to set him up. But he forgot about the smokes. Maybe he was ADD. Or ADHD. Or whatever.
The woman he was with was impatient & thot she'd waited long enuf. She left the gas pumps, screeched her truck up in front of the door, & threw out a coat and a hoodie, which landed in the parking lot in the pouring rain. Then she screeched out of the parking lot. He drifted outside, didn't pick up his clothes, & seemed to follow the vanishing truck. She didn't come back.
He came back inside. "How far is it to Gig Harbor?" he asked. It's about 10 miles down the freeway. "Can I walk on the freeway?" No. But he was wearing only a short-sleeved T-shirt & a pair of sweatpants. I suggested that if he was gonna B walking he might want to hold onto that coat & hoodie. "That's not my stuff," he said, went outside, & stuffed it all into the garbage can.
I rang-up a couple more customers, & the next thing I know he's screaming gibberish & throwing his apparently useless cellphone out into the traffic. Then he jumped over the concrete wall at the side of the parking lot, out into the greenbelt next 2 the street -- & he started crying, SOBBING, WAILING. I could hear him out there, loud & clear, all the way back inside the store.
This lasted maybe 5 mins, long enuf 4 me 2 wonder if I should call the cops 2 have him looked at. Then he came back into the parking lot, asked a customer pumping gas for $$$ or a ride, didn't get the answer he wanted, & started screaming again at the top of his lungs, & pulling the gas nozzles off the pumps, ripping away at the equipment like he couldn't care less about any damage he might cause. (I wasn't too worried -- the equipment's pretty tough.) He was just expressing his rage & frustration.
I stepped out the front door & said something like "If you want to wreck stuff, you might as well go somewhere else. I WILL call the cops on you...."
"Fuck you!!!" he screamed. "Fuck the cops!!! Fuck EVERYBODY!!! Wahrufglfrugleburzdgakkk...."
& he wandered off in the direction of the Fred Meyer store across the street. Thank Ghod.
There were witnesses. One woman waiting 2 buy a pack of smokes said the raver sounded like a customer she'd just tried 2 help over the phone. "He told me what he'd like to do to me in a dark alley," she said.
"Jesus," I said. "When did people stop being civil? Why do they get all angry? Don't they realize we're trying to HELP them?"
"Beats me," she said. "Just glad it's my Friday...."
...So the next time I start wondering if maybe MY sanity is getting a little bit shaky, I'll be thinking about this guy.... Where do these crazy people keep coming from? And why?

Posthumous

I predicted all this stuff yrs ago, in weak & undramatic science-fiction short-stories I couldn't sell 2 NE1.
MayB I wasn't convincing enuf. Or mayB no1 could Blieve that w/ all the wonders we had heading R way in the optimistic not-2-distant future, people could still B counted upon 2 make the absolute worst of it.
What I never predicted was that the technology was gonna come after me, 2....
In the morning while I try 2 wake up I switch on the computer, waking up slowly while I drink a potta coffee & try 2 figure out if I wanna B alive 2day or not. Sometimes I'll call-up CNN 2 C what new outrage occurred overnite. But usually I just use the laptop 2 regress in2 fantasy. Music, books, other people's writing & opinions -- something non-threatening. The Internet's great 4 fantasy or escape -- there's lotsa games & chatrooms & e-mail & blogs, lotsa chances 2 talk 2 people U're never really gonna meet, so they'll never havta B disappointed by U. Not in Reality, NEway.
When that gets boring, I've got CDs or the iPod, the same 200 familiar songs over & over. It's very comforting. & now & then if something gets boring I drop it & add something else. No chance of the unXpected ever happening & catching me off-guard.
Earphones plugged in, iPod attached 2 my belt, in 1 hand I've got the cellphone & I can call or text or keep up w/ CNN if I want, or check gas prices, or check directions 2 wherever I'm going -- not that I'm actually GOING NEwhere. I adopted Karl Malden's 1st Rule Of Travel a long time ago: Don't Leave Home.
I go 2 work, & bash on a computer 4 hrs. Sometimes I get phonecalls, more disembodied voices. Very seldom do I havta deal w/ Real People & their Dmands, thank Ghod. Mostly nobody bugs me, & I'm grateful. Just like the very few other people I interact w/ every day, when I go out in2 Reality I put on my Game Face -- all the walls go up & I am unreachable, unmoveable, unhurtable. Pretty comfterble in my isolation.
In the car I can plug-in the iPod, or I've got CDs. Who needs the radio? Ancient technology. The last thing I want is some1 else's tastes 4ced on me. Or commercials telling me what I SHOULD want, what I SHOULD need. I know what I want. I know what's best 4 me. When I'm out in Reality, mostly what I want is 2 B left alone.
2 make me even more portable & unattached 2 wires or accessories I've got the bluetooth phone, the works in my ear, so I can go NEwhere & talk if I have 2. MayB people think I'm talking 2 myself as I wander around a store or a park or a parking lot, sometimes loudly talking 2 whoever's at the other Nd. I don't care what they think.
But the truth is that in my unguarded moments I sometimes C other folks Cmingly talking 2 THEMselves as they wander around, sometimes raving in2 the air -- & I wonder if NEbody's listening. In their own little world, completely distracted, waving their arms around. I've Cn them walk out in fronta cars they didn't even realize were there -- never realized even after the car honked at them. Sevral times.
I C people wander thru stores w/ their bluetooths or earphones on, the phone or the iPod humming away, & sometimes they never say a word 2 NE1 -- they're like Stepford People or Pod People. 2 quiet. At lotsa stores now U can do a self-checkout: Scan yr groceries or whatever, slide yr card, bag up yr stuff & U're outta there in 30 secs & U never even hadta Xchange meaningless pleasantries w/ some cashier who probly wishes she was somewhere else doing something else, NEthing else. She's got her Game Face on 2, just trying 2 Get Thru It.
But when U look around at some other folks these days, I'd rather have the quiet 1's. At the other Nd of the spectrum, there sure are a LOTTA folks drinking a LOT of NRG drinks or NRG shots or various kinds of coffees or sodas, all hyped-up, in a REALLY big hurry. 2 go nowhere. 2 do nothing. & they're awfully loud & awfully anxious & awfully busy 4 people w/ nothing 2 do.
U C them on Fri's & Sat's, frantic 2 find a party 2 go 2. The traffic backs up 4 miles on the way 2 the stores & malls, people just released 4 their wknd, screaming 2 get 2 the stores, then we can mark that off R list & get on2 the next thing. Whatever that is.
All things considered, I'd rather have the quiet 1's. They don't interrupt me, they don't throw chaos in2 my quiet life, they don't get me thinking about what it all means. & during these long gray cold winters, I don't want 2 think at all. I want 2 disconnect. & it Cms like every1 else wants 2, 2.
In the words of '70s rock critic Lester Bangs, we have Bcome post-human, mimicking the things we worship. We would all like 2 run as smoothly & quietly & purposefully as the technology that surrounds us & that we've Bcome part of. But Real Life isn't always that smooth. & technology doesn't always work that perfectly.
Ever C how people react when the equipment doesn't work right or there's a glitch in the system, even 4 just a few secs? They get SO frustrated, as if: The technology's here, it's supposed 2 work absolutely FLAWLESSLY, 100 percent of the time.
I 1nce saw an apparently overly-busy & rudely preoccupied young woman SCREAM at a cashier at a gas station when she actually had 2 spend 10 secs walking from her car in2 the store 2 get a receipt 4 the gas she'd just bot. She was FURIOUS. She told the cashier: "You don't understand -- I don't WANT 2 have 2 deal w/ people. I don't LIKE having 2 deal w/ people."
I guess she'll never get those 10 seconds back. Or the 90 seconds she spent yelling.... But if she keeps going on like that, sooner or later she'll never havta deal w/ The Real World or real people again. Bcos nobody will talk 2 her.
More & more, I think this self-consciously busy young woman is speaking 4 all of us. More & more folks prefer not 2 deal w/ people. It's not worth the trouble. No frustration, no pain, no hurt, no miscommunication. & really, what have U lost? Remember the line from the Harvard Lampoon's old "Deteriorata": "Take comfort in knowing that a walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet."
Better 2 meet & chat on-line rather than take the risk of actually meeting some1 in Reality & mayB not liking them, or having them not like U (& what the hell's WRONG w/ U?), or possibly get yr feelings hurt. Way safer 2 deal w/ all Reality from the privacy of yr own little room, where U can mayB let down yr guard & B yrself safely Bhind yr own locked door. & mayB that's the only place. Reality can B pretty F'in frightening sometimes. Back 2 The Dungeon. It's better this way, really.
I'd like 2 think people R cutting themselves off from something important by trying so hard 2 avoid personal contact all the time. But I understand the need 2 escape....
So, pretty modern & slick & flashy & fast-paced, isn't it, Bing post-human? Also kinda cold & distant. Uncaring. I think people can still connect Dspite the technology. Seems like it. Hope so.
Otherwise the next word 2 B used 2 Dscribe all us slick, flashy, fast-paced, high-tech post-humans will B "posthumous."