First of all, “hooking up” is retro- decadent. It can be called sex without intimacy. This is been replaced with astonishing speed with Internet romance which I call pseudo-intimacy without sex. Skype, IM, twitter, e-mails and Facebook are all used today and, not surprisingly, have become almost addictive in their pull. If two people, living across the continent from one another, agree to meet for three days in Muncie, Indiana, it is not hard to predict that the sex will be acrobatic and ecstatic and the people will only leave the motel for food. This will become the expectation of what it will be like to live together for any extended period of time: an expectation that is inherently doomed to failure.
In addition, there are now apps which track a person's social life and match him or her up with people who have similar interests. For example if Hootie and the Blowfish (Hold My Hand) are giving a concert locally, this app will put you in contact with everyone else who plans to attend the concert and the name of the bar where they will be gathering after the concert together with the GPS coordinates so that you can meet someone who shares this esoteric interest. We can call this app the ”Matchmaker.”
Given the developments outlined above, I am going to propose a new app called “Will you marry me?” A young person can send to his/her Internet partner a bouquet of roses, an engagement ring, a preacher intoning marriage vows, a virtual crowd of celebrants, the wedding cake, the wedding dress, including the tossing of the garter, and a virtual cruise of the Caribbean. This, of course, is quite in keeping with FarmVille.
Moving right along, it is now possible to buy vibrators at the local CVS. You will find them right between BenGay and Dr. Scholl's foot powder. I was astonished that the people who market this product did not have the vibrators come with scents. I would favor either lavender or sandalwood myself.
In a practical sense, three out of the last 10 new clients that I have interviewed have reported an addiction for Internet pornography which is seriously threatening their ongoing relationship. While I can discern no similarity among the three cases at this time, I am sure, speaking as a part-time empiricist, that the data will begin to sort itself out and help me understand the various dynamics that are involved across individual cases. Rest assured, dear reader, that this will be the substance of a future post.
1 comments:
New York was a city of small neighborhoods, at least when I was growing up. The show Friends seemed to reflect the same need for community, and found it with their own building. Its not surprising to see humans looking for ways to satisfy their need to feel a part of something-
Our herd instinct is real.
Im sure sociologists are already studying the internet phenonemna.
Where I live I have watched a small town rapidly grow into a port city- it went from a population of 20K to almost 200K in less than 15 years. When I first came here there were still cows in the street, everyone walked evrywhere and evryone still said hello and stopped to chat- now they zip by in cars with cell phones pressed to their ears.
Facebook is growing rapidly- I have 60 some odd contacts without doing anything.
Its all very interesting to watch. Sex is just part of the whole shebang.
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