Every once in a while I run across one of those anti-internet/anti-social media people. You know the ones, they get a facebook or a Twitter but then delete it because it’s “fake” and you can’t keep in touch with “real people,” or have a “real relationship” with people. They just dismiss the internet like it’s an inferior form of communication. Well, that really irks me, because I’ve met some of the best people online. And sure, some forms of the communication are missing, like facial expressions, body gestures, tone of voice, etc. And admittedly, some people probably would ever be friends “in real life”  because of prejudices thinking, “they’re too ugly,” or, “they sound stupid,” that we usually use to sort people.

But on the internet, the words and the ideas are still there… that’s what matters. People who have just met, say in a chat room, can just dive into deeper conversations getting to the core of our person faster and know who we really are. Because, honestly, it’s easier to open up when you don’t see someone’s facial expression. We can pretend we didn’t cringe when someone types that they’re 41 and when you thought they were 28, and you can keep talking. Point here being, we can set aside any visual prejudice and just have open, raw conversations with anyone. And I’ve found that the internet is the place where I have some of my richest conversations, that last the longest. Not in one sitting, but in talking over months and years.

And now for a hilarious quote from an acquaintance I saw leaving facebook… his reasons were, “Because the internet is the most fake and illegitimate form of meeting people and maintaining communications, I’ve ever encountered. I could just be doing better things with my time.” Sir, if you ever happen to read this, I have met a countless number of worthwhile people on the internet, and it has been my strongest tool of maintaining communications. Especially with my friends across the country from summer programs. One friend in particular I e-mailed daily for a year and a half, and we still e-mail each other now at least twice weekly. Another I’ve been in contact with for nearly four years now.

Saying that, I want to ask those people, who dismiss the internet as a “real” form of communication then,  if they don’t read books, or have never been effected by a poem, because that’s the same thing. It’s the use of words for communication. As my friend Wil (@javajunky) said in our online conversation about this, “Text can convey a lot. Literature would be nowhere if it weren’t true.”

I fell that dismissing online communication is pointless for that reason. And if these people only want a “full relationship,” face to face with “real people,” then they better stop using phones, reading the news, and watching TV too, because those all dilute the full on experience you get face to face with another person. So, good luck, hypocrites. I’d like to keep all of my online friends right here. And who knows, someday I may get to meet them “IRL” as well.

Caught within a dream,

repeating thoughts swirling around eddies

like a lost fish swimming in circles,

stuck in his fishbowl.

.

These ideas want to control me,

but I won’t let this cloud

of flowery romanticism catch me,

even though the side effects

of writing sappy poetry

in scripted handwriting

have already set in.

.

Then in a moment of lucidity

the poem is carefully and elegantly

scribbled out,

almost in regret of having to do so

but the idea is already there.

.

My efforts of avoiding these ideas

have been ruined

by writing them down once more.

This is the vicious cycle of a single lover

attempting to breathe underwater

alone.

_____________

Just a little something I wrote a while ago. I still like it so I thought I’d post it. I know most people don’t like or read poetry, but I hope someone enjoys it.

So in my morning art class, we spent the last half of the class just sitting in a circle and listening to remixes of the song Reckoner by Radiohead on this website.

What Radiohead did was provide all the studio tracks, bass, lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, piano/strings and drums, and create their own mix and resubmit it. Then you could vote on which one you like best and the band members will also listen to them.

I find this to be a really neat idea. Just the idea of taking an original piece of music and changing it and warping the sound to make a new song while also keeping enough intact enough that you can recognize the original song it came from, that’s just really cool.

And interesting contrast with the idea of change. I just really liked how it make me think and I enjoyed the website and the music, so check it out! radioheadremix.com