I remember when the highlight of my day was
to see my blog roll shift, signalling that there was a new post in any of the
blogs that I followed. I would usually attack the link with a voracious
appetite. Here was something that I knew would stimulate my thoughts, tickle my
funny bone, provoke passionate responses. But most of all, it was connecting
with friends on a deep level. The kind of connection one could achieve by a
chat over a good coffee, all in the comfort of one’s own home. I would always
wonder what Ailin would be doing in Sweden, and how she was faring in her
battle with pain; where Fauziah Ismail was and what adventures (and gripes) she
would share; or what entertaining fad Ah Beng would share from his treasure
trove of a brain; what epiphany of language and culture Jordan Macvay would
experience. And oh so many, many more.
But progress is a cruel master, and like all roads lead to Rome, progress on the Internet all led to Facebook. At first I was ecstatic to connect to my blog friends on Facebook – to find out that they were in fact real people (I know right?), ordinary people with extraordinary experiences. It was fun to be able to chat with them at any time, to find out what they were doing, to see photo updates of their families. But soon, constant contact became something that was taken for granted. We became so reliant on instant status updates and real-time chats, that it became a chore to really have to think about what to write on the blogs. It was too taxing to the brain. And besides, who had the time? And soon, one by one, the blogs started to follow the lonely path to oblivion. One by one, my blog friends started to stop the updates. And we didn’t even notice. Gone was the deep connection I would feel with my blog friends. Gone was the quality of thought and interaction, replaced with quantity over substance.
But that is the path to progress I guess.
All roads lead to Rome, and all the Internet
leads to Facebook.
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