World Of Tourism

The world is a mixture of tall, short, fat, thin and that only helps to diversify a race that thrives on individuality. We crave to be different because in doing so we become unique. I was told from a very young age that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it's whats on the inside that counts and never judge a book by it's cover. These cliche's have been my moral compass when the urge to judge arises and I find myself in a narrow minded moment. As time goes by, with everything in life, the only constant we can rely on is change and learn that in order to survive the society we live in today, we need to adapt and faster than ever before.

I couldn't help but wonder, as we learn the new ways of living from social networking to dating via webcam, how much are we willing to compromise our core beliefs? No one meets organically anymore, there are no coffee shop glances, or random meetings in the park, those are the stuff movies are made of, so what choice do we have? The World Wide Web. Dating site upon dating site has been launched and millions of people are googling their perfect match as we speak and as cold as this might seem, people are doing it more and more often.

I think it's the easiest option and although there are dangers involved there are many cases of people finding their happily ever after and retelling their hilarious "I met him on the internet" story. But as I mentioned before, times are changing and with it, the dating website world, thanks to a new dating service called beautifulpeople.com. and this is where my own core beliefs are challenged.

As the name states, you have to be beautiful to join. Who determines your beauty you ask? There is a rating system that all the current members use for judging and if you get the correct rating, you're in! Lucky you! For all the 'ugly' people in the world, it's a self esteem destroyer and a reminder of how superficial we can be. It angers me to think that a site like this could actually exist, but let's be honest, this is pretty small fry compared to some others I've come across, however it still stings the heart with it's blatant and hurtful message.

This is why people all over the world have serious issues about their appearance, I say we boycott beautifulpeople.com who's with me??

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter....If I were more technologically and digitally inclined I could name a few more, but my point is that social networking is the new life, not real, not fake, somewhere in between. Human beings don't need human interaction anymore when they can spend hours and lifetimes in front of a computer screen promoting their super cool alter ego. If you can't detect the tone of sarcasm I have so blatantly put in that line, I consider you a lost cause, trapped in a digital world of LOL's and smiley faces.

Someone actually said to me once "TMI!", excuse me? After a very puzzled face and many a web savvy stare, I was told that it means Too Much Information. Since when did it become acceptable to communicate to people in web language? Here's one for you....WTF. No explanation needed, if you're reading this blog, I'm 99 percent sure you know your way around the world of the internet and the cultures and rules that follow closely behind it.

A friend of mine passed away, not so long ago, friend is maybe a little strong, but he was a friend on Facebook, that counts right? Sarcasm, the only tool I love and one that's slated as the lowest form of wit. Go figure. So he dies, people are mourning, funeral preparations are under way and one of the many village idiots that roam our real planet (earth by the way), says in a very sad and withdrawn tone "What should we do about his facebook account?" to my horror another responded "Don't worry (insert name-please feel free to use any name you can think-I can think of a few)Facebook memorializes accounts of deceased people, his parents just need to get hold of Facebook and his account will be left open for comments from friends...." It was at this stage that I blanked out, I think it was my brain's way of protecting itself from mindless facebook drones.

I have a facebook account, I'll be honest but I can assure you that when I die, the last thing I want is a page memorializing me, I'm all for shrines but I'm a little too modest for that. Just send me a virtual high five and press delete and I'll make my way along the digital river Styx to the recycle bin. I also don't feel the need to spend my time, tweeting, the thought of explaining to a person who actively uses their mind that I'm tweeting makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

So why you wonder, do I even have a facebook account if I am so against the new order? Ill tell you, morbid fascination, Like many of you I've been sucked into the vortex of people's lives, a virtual voyeur. Does it make me proud to say that? Of course not, but it's the truth, the real truth, not something fabricated for more friend invites. Like an addict, I too will have to endure cold turkey, simply to enjoy the forgotten pastime of coffee and a chat, face to face, the innocent touch of hands, the pat on a shoulder, instead of the cold, hard keys of a keyboard. The world is outside, dare you to shut down?

I remember when Facebook first came out, it was a feeding frenzy, social networking style. I realised even back then that facebook was like a best friend, knows everything about you and can use that information against you. Alright I'll admit that was a little dramatic, but you get my point. As time went by I thought the novelty of Facebook would wear off but it didn't, in fact, it turned some of my very good friends into what I call, Faddicts. Facebook addicts.

I started seeing some disturbing traits in my Faddicts. If someone declined to be your friend, it would result in a war of words, if someone posted a random status line, friends would call friends almost immediately to gossip about what it possibly could mean. I had one friend that had about 400 friends and she only knew a quarter of them personally but she considered them her real friends because they were facebook friends. Then of course, there were the 'cry for help' facebookers, people who would post suicidal messages as their status line and before you knew it the facebook world was rallying to gather around this poor facebook soul and help out. I started wondering if facebook was a friend or a well disguised foe? It also became clear to me that Facebook essentially appeals to the voyerusitic side in all of us. I think we inherently all love to snoop and know what's going on where and with whom.

I deactivated my account a while ago and continued on living my life as normal, interacting with other people on a face to face level. Chatting, laughing and not at a computer screen. But it wasn't long before I reactivated it and rejoined the masses of Facebook junkies in their perfect world of friends, applications and groups. Like any drug, it's used as an escape, it's easier to be someone else on a website than who we really are in life.

The reason I decided to blog about this today is because as I was sifting through the news I came across an article about Sir John Sawers, the new head of M16. Nothing says prestige like M16, it's a James Bond fantasy come to life but that's in jeopardy now because his wife, who happens to be a faddict, posted pictures and intimate details about their family and friends on the social networking site, comprising his cover in his new position. So he's on the shelf for reevaluation, the facebook foe strikes again.

I'm sure that Facebook has many pro's but do they outweigh the cons? That's the question folks. I think not, but what I do know for sure is that Facebook is here to stay and truth be told that worries me a little.