In the annals of history will people remember us for all of our social updates and conversations?
I wonder if we’re just blowing bubbles into the ether.
After all, we need algorithms and formulas now to sift through the immense amounts of social data we create. If the proliferation of social data necessitates Big Data mining to make sense of it all, how can we possibly remember the average social citizen, much less the A-Listers?
This thought terrifies me.
We’re not even ghosts in the machine, just 1s and 0s sifted through for pattern recognition.
A Kafkaesque conundrum ensues.
We update for likes, comments, links and other attention-based accolades, all meandering towards some vague purpose. None of this achieves clear validation. Nor can we find a clear path towards that unknown and desperately sought-for destination of human longing satisfied.
Yet, the social web communications crowd leads the charge! We whip each other into a frenzy over the proper time invested, the correct content frequency, the necessary comment, and the value of a like/plus/heart.
For what?
Certainly some new and better relationships. Perhaps the altruistic idea exchange. Others continue the pursuit of attention and validation. Some of us profit. And that’s about it.
What will be our historical legacy?
Sociologically, I suspect we will be remembered as the noisiest generation. Wild and unchannelled in our use of suddenly freeing (and also limiting) media, we have created the most chaotic game of 52-card pick-up the world has seen.
The mess in our minds now lives publicly in server bays mined for intelligence.
And the noise itself? Most of of our social media investments will be forgotten, sitting until the end of time on a refrigerated motherboard.
What do you think? How will we be remembered?