He's thrashing around while he's having his dream, and his dream can be seen on the monitor screen!" —MC Mothmaster Murf

The words ‘torrents of misinformation, disinformation, advertising, spam, porn, noise and trivia’-brought to mind, of all things, bats. Vampire Bats specifically. I will elaborate soon enough on this. The phrase Epidemic of Loneliness requires my immediate attention. I won’t deny I found delight in reading these three words. I am by my very nature a loner, yet never has this inherent characteristic of mine seemed so precious. You see-I am a digital exile. I worship, without shame or fear of social ostracism, at the feet of our species higher cortical functioning, at our genetic disposition to socialise-in “real time” conversations between flesh and blood witnesses. I may not know who I am but I know who I am not. Reflecting on those who exist almost primarily in the cloud of information that our younger generation looks to for a sense of self-identity, makes me wonder when removing the physicality’s of life became the sacrifice we make for a sense of solidarity. The Road (not Jack Kerouac’s) but the one where our society trawls along at all hours of everyday, letting it all ‘hang out’ in the hope that a passerby will stop and reward our narcissistic displays of self-presenting with a Facebook thumbs-up icon or, if the ‘goods are as good as they look’ (and social media enables us the best in fictionless depiction) well then, you might just earn the holy grail of social communication-the elusive and coveted “personal” comment.

But let us get back to bats. When Stephen Marche talks about a web of connections, he also talks about the instant and absolute communication it enables us with. It sounds like the “New Republic”-yet we only have to read on to discover that this online community, better called a colony, which so cleverly avoids the possibility of Orwellian associations by negating users to ‘social’ media has a price tag. Loneliness. For the majority, we all embrace this virtual land of infotainment, and believe we are replenishing our social status with every click of an ‘accept' friend request .We utilise the tools the platforms provide to reinforce our social presence and in doing so, are convinced we are attaining a surer sense of self and belonging. By utilising both composed and one-click communication practices we are distancing ourselves even further from community. The social reality?-“Maybe” attending does not mean you are cruising the information highway, a symbol of a socially networked online wonder. Our actions are what disconnects us and removes all vestiges of altruism from our lives. Instead, we have, as Marche puts it to us, ‘outsourced the work of everyday caring’ to psychic servants. And the Vampire bat? Quite the opposite. They establish long-term associations, often lasting for up to more than 10 years. To really rub it-a female vampire bat will willingly regurgitate part of her meal to a less successful friend. Bats will vomit up blood to keep their communities alive-because sharing is recognised as an important survival tool within their species. This reciprocal altruism is what social media fails dismally to convey. The digital self-identity is based on satisfying the constant prodding and demand of social media. Our community relationships are governed by objective and impersonal expectations. To my mind’s eye, there is no reciprocity within the social contracts forged throughout our day-to-day digital lives.  The only reason we share is for the status attached to this reputable deed.

The social anxiety that hangs around people of not being up-to-date and therefore somehow socially inferior perplexes me. In essence, we are building our own “private” harems. One could argue that this is a competitive impulse we have a genetic predisposition to perform. Not even todays cultural/religious constraints can dissuade us from our fervent online polygamy. Ask any anthropologist and they will tell you that harem keeping is closer to our natural state. However, our harems offer only a culturally imposed isolation. The information we share are merely ‘events’ that propel us towards ‘nothing’. Osho calls becoming nobody as the ‘most difficult, almost impossible, most extraordinary thing in the world’ (2008). Tom Robbins called him ‘the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ’. Was, Robbons, was. The most dangerous of us all is our collective, ‘always connected’ selves. Our sociality stems from technological attributes. Our online dimorphism makes is hard to believe we could ever possibly truly switch off from our ‘computer-obsessed electronic global ghetto’-can we take a time out from the society Time Out fittingly describes. Author Jeff Noon expands on the fears, desires and impulsive tendencies that drive our digital lives.  Can we rethink and improve our lives by ‘turning off’? What of this foreign, blasphemous notion so suggested by Leslie Perlow. I would like to believe that we all carry the ability to communicate meaningfully and intelligently. If we could utilise digital culture in a meaningful way, our Net smart’s will enable a change from the frenzied, manipulative environment so many of us currently coincide in. So, let us try and challenge assumptions and test boundaries and empower ourselves with a time off.

A good starting point? Sam Lloyd’s Calm down Boris! (Hand-puppet included, monster voice a must). Boris teaches us that sometimes being big and tickly and kissy is what is exactly what is needed in life….

.”The words ‘torrents of misinformation, disinformation, advertising, spam, porn, noise and trivia’-brought to mind, of all things, bats. Vampire Bats specifically. I will elaborate soon enough on this. The phrase Epidemic of Loneliness requires my immediate attention. I won’t deny I found delight in reading these three words. I am by my very nature a loner, yet never has this inherent characteristic of mine seemed so precious. You see-I am a digital exile. I worship, without shame or fear of social ostracism, at the feet of our species higher cortical functioning, at our genetic disposition to socialise-in “real time” conversations between flesh and blood witnesses. I may not know who I am but I know who I am not. Reflecting on those who exist almost primarily in the cloud of information that our younger generation looks to for a sense of self-identity, makes me wonder when removing the physicality’s of life became the sacrifice we make for a sense of solidarity. The Road (not Jack Kerouac’s) but the one where our society trawls along at all hours of everyday, letting it all ‘hang out’ in the hope that a passerby will stop and reward our narcissistic displays of self-presenting with a Facebook thumbs-up icon or, if the ‘goods are as good as they look’ (and social media enables us the best in fictionless depiction) well then, you might just earn the holy grail of social communication-the elusive and coveted “personal” comment.

But let us get back to bats. When Stephen Marche talks about a web of connections, he also talks about the instant and absolute communication it enables us with. It sounds like the “New Republic”-yet we only have to read on to discover that this online community, better called a colony, which so cleverly avoids the possibility of Orwellian associations by negating users to ‘social’ media has a price tag. Loneliness. For the majority, we all embrace this virtual land of infotainment, and believe we are replenishing our social status with every click of an ‘accept' friend request .We utilise the tools the platforms provide to reinforce our social presence and in doing so, are convinced we are attaining a surer sense of self and belonging. By utilising both composed and one-click communication practices we are distancing ourselves even further from community. The social reality?-“Maybe” attending does not mean you are cruising the information highway, a symbol of a socially networked online wonder. Our actions are what disconnects us and removes all vestiges of altruism from our lives. Instead, we have, as Marche puts it to us, ‘outsourced the work of everyday caring’ to psychic servants. And the Vampire bat? Quite the opposite. They establish long-term associations, often lasting for up to more than 10 years. To really rub it-a female vampire bat will willingly regurgitate part of her meal to a less successful friend. Bats will vomit up blood to keep their communities alive-because sharing is recognised as an important survival tool within their species. This reciprocal altruism is what social media fails dismally to convey. The digital self-identity is based on satisfying the constant prodding and demand of social media. Our community relationships are governed by objective and impersonal expectations. To my mind’s eye, there is no reciprocity within the social contracts forged throughout our day-to-day digital lives.  The only reason we share is for the status attached to this reputable deed.

The social anxiety that hangs around people of not being up-to-date and therefore somehow socially inferior perplexes me. In essence, we are building our own “private” harems. One could argue that this is a competitive impulse we have a genetic predisposition to perform. Not even todays cultural/religious constraints can dissuade us from our fervent online polygamy. Ask any anthropologist and they will tell you that harem keeping is closer to our natural state. However, our harems offer only a culturally imposed isolation. The information we share are merely ‘events’ that propel us towards ‘nothing’. Osho calls becoming nobody as the ‘most difficult, almost impossible, most extraordinary thing in the world’ (2008). Tom Robbins called him ‘the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ’. Was, Robbons, was. The most dangerous of us all is our collective, ‘always connected’ selves. Our sociality stems from technological attributes. Our online dimorphism makes is hard to believe we could ever possibly truly switch off from our ‘computer-obsessed electronic global ghetto’-can we take a time out from the society Time Out fittingly describes. Author Jeff Noon expands on the fears, desires and impulsive tendencies that drive our digital lives.  Can we rethink and improve our lives by ‘turning off’? What of this foreign, blasphemous notion so suggested by Leslie Perlow. I would like to believe that we all carry the ability to communicate meaningfully and intelligently. If we could utilise digital culture in a meaningful way, our Net smart’s will enable a change from the frenzied, manipulative environment so many of us currently coincide in. So, let us try and challenge assumptions and test boundaries and empower ourselves with a time off.

A good starting point? Sam Lloyd’s Calm down Boris! (Hand-puppet included, monster voice a must). Boris teaches us that sometimes being big and tickly and kissy is what is exactly what is needed in life….

.”