My So-Called Public Life

Yes, I know, this hasn't been the best year for my pitiful internet presence. I just didn't feel like writing about anything. And then I felt guilty about that. How lame is that? It's not that I have a cult-following here. Haha.

I've also been wondering what this general obsession with making your thoughts and opinions publicly accessible is all about. I mean, I love the opinion page in the newspapers. I enjoy a good public sparring of politicians and public figures. I get a few good giggles from watching Stewart or Colbert. I even like to get riled up by the insanity of FOX News at times.
I guess I'm perfectly fine with opinions in principle (and the internet has made the playing field so much more colorful), it's more the inane status updates, public diaries, and useless trivia that make me wonder.
A few recent newsarticles and TV shows have put this on my mind again...

Yesterday I watched a meta-media magazine on German television. They lamented the decline of quality journalism. Their prime targets were the privately owned TV stations here, where most stories recquire little to no research and are mass-produced to appeal to viewers with five-second attention spans (or so it seems). Interesting example: Flu/Flu shots. Instead of citing facts or asking doctors/researchers, the female "journalist" got the flu shot herself and then reported the next day about slight pain in her arm. OK. WTF is that? Any random person off the street can do the same kind of 'me me me'-reporting.
Frustrating.

A psychotherapist gave an interview about "public relationships". She cited two German celebrities (Boris Becker was one) as examples for people who demonstratively flaunt their love lives (usually rapidly changing partners) in public. The researcher claimed that these personalities have some kind of narcisistic disorder. Well, at least those guys get paid for disclosing private details, ey?

Which brings me to the strange facebook/twitter-phenomenon.
Disclaimer: Yes, I also have a FB account and it is somewhat useful. I like seeing pictures of my friends and sending short messages instead of lengthy emails (which I tend to send very, very infrequently anyway - another source of guilt...).
Nevertheless, I have a hard time understanding why so many people need to update the world at large about the state of their little lives. Who cares about your latest meal, shopping trip, bowel movement? - Yea, OK, maybe somebody does, and I should just ignore the mundane updates and unclench. Probably true. And most days I don't care or mind anyway.
On other days I worry though, because I think there is one side of this "virtual community" and connection with friends, internet buddies and the world: It can trick you into thinking you have a social life.
Sure, you haven't left the house all weekend and you're still in your pajamas, but you've been talking to your friends online all day! Yea, not the same thing as meeting people in person, sharing a meal, playing sports together, taking a walk. A few years ago I was fundamentally lonely, but didn't have to admit it to myself, because I had my buddies on the web.

Don't get me wrong, I love the internet. Talking to people online, looking up random articles and facts, reveling in the unbelievable vastness of this crazy electronic web.
Yet, I don't want to forget the real world: Giving an update to the person sitting across from me at the dinner table. Telling my friends in person that I "like" something they have accomplished. Taking inventory of my unplugged life every once in a while. Checking what my status really is.