Cupidtino

We're all living tales of two, three, maybe four cities. Our friends and family are widespread across the country, and maybe even globe. But we're all connected by a world-wide web. And that's why, as the Dean of the Engineering School insisted at our University-wide Commencement, advanced technology is magic.

There are two camps when it comes to social networking: those for whom the revolution is the angel on the right shoulder, and those for whom it is the devil on the left. People are uninhibited when it comes to online social networking. They reach out to those who they might not contact in person. They provide raw, unedited emotion by means of updates, posts, and comments. There are few norms and restrictions. It is wonderful in the sense that networks are expanded and enriched. But it is awful for the very same reasons. Social networking sheds light on the dark shadow of the human character. The preconceived notions, the hangups, the insecurities, the lack of confidence, that prevent us from interacting with people in the flesh. We're hindered, and for some reason, online social networking is one of the only ways to counteract our deficiency. How else can you explain the way in which people make open confessions on sites like YouTube, but not to a best friend?

During the roll call of my college graduation, I noted numerous names that I recognized, but whose owners I didn't know on a personal level. "Probably because we all Facebook friended each other when we were accepted to college," I mentioned to my friend next to me. I thought back to one girl with whom I had engaged in an extended Facebook message thread the summer before college. We bonded over several similar aspects of our lives, including our employer (Coldstone Creamery FTW). However, I never interacted with this girl in person once I arrived at college. Though, judging from our written interactions facilitated by the wonder that is technology (two things that are very near and dear to my heart), I am sure that we could have been good in-person friends as well.

After the initial friends-making period that accompanies the beginning of any endeavor, we become comfortable with the people in our lives and stop really "looking." Perhaps we can blame the "seven friend-slots per person" rule of evolutionary psychology.

It's interesting. The birth of sites like Facebook and Twitter might be the very tools to counteract the curse of limitation that evolutionary psychology has dealt to humans. Yes, it's important to appreciate what we have, but there's no such thing as too many friends (as our University President mentioned at our Baccalaureate ceremony, "I encourage you all to connect with your fellow colleagues.") The wonders of technology can help us to stay together.

At Commencement, the speaker made a distinction between technology and emotion, with a "technology isn't everything" theme. I'll take that. But technology and emotion are not completely disconnected. In fact, technology may be the only weapon that breaks the emotional barriers that hinder our daily lives.