Grub With Us: Make some friends (offline)

8 Mile, the annual auto show, and jazz.

Nouns
Screens. Smart phones. Computers. Tablets. Apple. Google. Facebook. Social Media. GChat. Facebook Chat. Gmail. AIM. Tumblr. LinkedIn. Twitter. Instagram. Flickr. Yelp. Foursquare. YouTube. Skype. Vimeo. Microsoft. Apps.

Verbs
Log in. Sync. Upload. Upgrade. Poke. Follow. Friend. Text. Compose. Tweet. Subscribe. Post. Message. Share. Chat. Purchase. Like. Check in. Comment. Send. Download. Log out.

Honestly, what is all this shit? I mean, I love it all to death (I mean, I chose to work in the field). But, my hard drive’s full, yo.

I’m not even really talking about “information overload.” I’m talking about communication and the relationships I have with people. After three weeks of having genuine face-to-face conversations with people in real time–with the aesthetics of natural lighting and voice intonation and room temperature and so much more–, I realize that any communication I have via technological method just dilutes the substance of the communication. And, yeah, I’m talking about talking on the phone, too.

In summation, it’s not that I don’t want to talk to you. It’s not that I don’t want to respond with a thoughtful long email detailing the wonders and changes and epic flow of my life. It’s not that I don’t want to text message you all day and night about petty random shit. Really, all it is is that I don’t want to sit in front of a screen to have a meaningful personal exchange, no matter what the screen’s size or shape or quality, because I mentally and physically cannot.

Perhaps I am currently experiencing technical difficulties….

(You can comment on this blog post using the Web form provided, but I’d rather you comment in person.<EMOTICON>)

Which face are you presenting to the world?

In our “simple” computer science world, every person would be assigned a “single” ID. In reality, this quickly breaks down because users want to separate their personal and work life. In addition, some people compartmentalize their life further. One compartment might be the way most people know them, but another compartment might be for having affairs, or criminal activity, or dissident behavior. A celebrity might have a compartment for their “regular self,” similar to the Superman character’s “Clark Kent” compartment.

Email addresses turn out to be an amazingly good way for users to create a virtual identify that maps to each compartment in their life. In a large % of cases, users try to avoid linking these different identities. One common technique is to use different webmail providers for different email address, because they are so visually different that it reduces the chances that the user might accidentally perform an action in the wrong account.

So most websites don’t map user accounts to humans, they map them to email addresses, and only the actual human person knows all of their different compartments, along with the email address used to identify each of those compartments in the virtual world.

I’ve talked to many people about virtual v. physical identities. What I’ve found from a series of conversations is:

- People who most refrain from activity on social networks (particularly Twitter and Facebook) don’t see or are not inclined to realize the opportunity to separate the two types of identities, or maybe don’t know how.

- “Growing up with the Internet” means adapting to different audience types and different kinds of interactivity. As a teenager, my virtual and physical identities were the same, but as the Web changed and grew, I learned through careful observance who I should and shouldn’t be online.

I’m fascinated by the (simple) concept that an interface layout can help reassure an identity– PROJECT!

He said: “Don’t get caught up too much in how you feel right now–on a Sunday night in December.”

You are missed.