Back To The Future?..

Blimey these social networking/stalking sites are catching on aren't they?

I find myself spending hours every day browsing many different social networking sites, be it Bebo, Twitter, FaceBook or MSN whatsitcalled, often achieving nothing in the process. I blame my genetic urge to find out what's going on in the world.

That said, it just goes to show how quickly the world we live in has changed does'nt it, I mean, it was not even 5 years ago, letters were pushed aside for email, chatrooms were closed due to the increase of instant messaging, and now the infamous 'status updates' are keeping us all up to date with the latest knowledge.

At one time, we'd have to wait until the hour to find out what's going on in the world, now it seems the worlds media relies on the thoughts and opinions of various tweets and groups.

Flashmobs are the latest craze, YouTube makes mere mortals into megastars within days, and Scottish Singers become bigger singers than Mariah Carey simply because they had their hair done in a tumble dryer before going on TV.

You gotta love it though have'nt you, it just goes to show how much stuff there is 'out there' that keeps us all entertained, and I think without realising it, there's now something bigger than TV to keep us all occupied. Think about it, when was the last time you sat down in front of the TV for more than an hour?

When was the last time you 'recorded' a programme, bought an album in a shop, or even wrote a letter?

Here's a thought for you though..

When I was a kid, I remember seeing this old film (probably made in the late 50s/60s), something about a time machine or whatever, and the people in it decided to travel way into the future. Now when they got there, they came across libraries in this old deserted town, but when one of the characters tried to pick up a book off the shelf, it disintegrated due to it's extensive age.

We're moving very quickly into a fast, digital age. USB sticks are everywhere, everything comes with a memory card, and it's all quite cheap, and easy to get hold of. When was the last time you printed something out for yourself? - imagine in a few years when the whole world catches up...

There are Myths that the Egyptians were living in a higher technological era than the rest of the world, as were the Incas and the Aztecs. Well, if we stay 'all digital' and something ultra magnetic were to happen, some freaky monster EMP from space or something was to wipe out the whole planet, there wouldnt be much evidence of our existence in a few million years would there, well apart from a couple of dusty ZX81s, a Pink Floyd Album and an 'Only Fools & Horses' box set, well, maybe on DVDs that feature a bloke getting up to go to the loo every now and then.

I wonder if that's what happened to the Aztecs, Egyptians and that lot from Atlantis - maybe they Twittered themselves out of existence.

That movie I saw as a child is beginning worry me a little - the libraries are disappearing already.

So it could be worth printing something out every now and then, and keeping it safe, OK it might add an extra layer to your carbon footprint, but at least you'll have something to show for yourself when we're all gone...