Social Media: I raise my boom box...

I have always been a little behind the times when it comes to the latest technological trends. It took me years to move beyond my Classic Nintendo and even then, a game or two on Sega or Playstation had me whimsically longing for some old-fashioned duck hunt or zelda.

For those who didn't get the title
of this post.
John Cusack - Say Anything (c)

For many, change does not come easily. For me, embracing eight different forms of communication, from pagers to cell phones, MySpace to Facebook and everything in between, was more than my walkie talkie heart could handle. I felt we were moving away from human connection into a land where humor, chemistry, facial relatability and touch were lost in the Times New Roman typeface of email and gchat. I rebelled.

However, as this year, and this blog, are all about trying new things, welcoming a different path, I decided to not only jump head first in to the blogosphere and facebook-osphere (I believe I made that word up), but I took it one further and became a tweeter, twitterer, tweeti (or is that plural). You get the point.  

Coincidentally, this grand decree of social media love came the same day I went to see Blue Man Group.

Blue Man Group (c) All rights reserved.

For those, like myself, who have been living in a cave the past 10 years and have never seen it, Blue Man Group is a three-man physical comedy, musical, interactive performance that really is truly amazing.

What I found most interesting about it was the way it embraced our hyper-technologically dependent society through its use of sounds, light, even massive iphone replicas adorn the set yet still drew attention to what we are missing. In one scene, dedicated entirely to texting, they satirize the irony of what a disconnected form of communication it has become...who needs to speak anymore, let alone see one another. Don't worry, it's not all serious, far from it. I laughed dare I say squealed at the silliest of moments, something I haven't done in a long time.

Maybe that's the message, that we have to embrace the inevitable change, whatever the direction and find the joy and humor in the craziness of it all.  And yet, as I write this blog, that I will eventually post on my Facebook to be shared (possibly reposted) with hundreds to be forwarded to my twitter that will hopefully be re-tweeted, I feel a bit foggy.

I can't help but wonder, in an attempt to reach each other on as many levels as we are, is it possible we are missing the connection entirely?  Perhaps I'm just lost in a cloud of my own making, whimsically longing for Donkey Kong and a simpler time.