Being An Online Social Butterfly

Being an ex-pat means that you have left your hometown and all of your friends behind you, starting from scratch all over again. What would ex-pats do before the invention of the Internet? How would they stay in touch with each other? I simply have no clue. Sure there is always the option of writing letters, but for me personally it never worked out. First my handwriting is really really bad, one could think that I am a doctor with Parkinson. Second I have a very short attention span, meaning that I have trouble focusing on one subject longer than say 10 minutes. There is hardly one movie I can watch without looking stuff up on Wikipedia. Anyway, so no letters for me and I really do apologize to all the people I was in language exchange program with in England to their letters I never replied .

Today with the invention of countless social networking websites it´s so easy to stay in touch with all kinds of people. Hell, some people found me who I was in kindergarden with and have no recollection of whatsoever. In these situations I tend to do what my grandma taught me "if you have no idea, simply smile and fake it" and that´s what I´m doing. Which brings me to my point, do I really want to stay in touch with all these people, is it really helping me of not letting go of the old times? Sure, online networking is great for meeting new people and building a new network in a new town but does it really help to always having the past so easy accessible? I mean do I really want to know what my old classmates are doing, that they have 2.5 kids now, that they didn´t study astrophysics after all, that the guy I had a major crush on in the 8th grade is still drop dead gorgeous minus the hair plus a kid, that my first boyfriend is still a male nurse although he is clever enough to be a doctor, that all the people in the In-Crowd back then are pretty much in the Out-Crowd now?

Memory is a bitch and we know it. Thinking back, it all seemed so easy, so trouble free so blissful, but that´s because memory is a very selective mass storage medium. The good things stay the bad stuff gets right clicked into the trash folder immediately.

Online communities are great fun because they serve our need to know perfectly. Everyone is curious, we all have our Sliver moments, and with these websites we can be a little stalker in the privacy of our own apartment. No shame no blame.

I added up all the connections I have on my 16!!! social networking sites and came up with the amazing number of 523 individuals. So, to how many of these people do I talk on a regular bases? I would say around 30, not more. 20 here in Geneva, 10 back in Germany.

I think that I eventually will deactivate most of the networks which are related to the past since they are simply a hindrance to be focused on the future. Time moves in only one direction and memory lane is simply not in a good neighborhood.

Come to the future, they have cookies. ;)

Obsessions - Blackberry

Being the communication junkie I am, I of course have a smartphone, a Blackberry Curve to be precise and I must say I am totally obsessed with this little gadget. Being able to stay in touch with all of my friends and being able to gather information on any given subject in a matter of seconds is simply wonderful and highly addictive.

Before I came to Geneva I used normal cell phones, slightly more sophisticated, but I was happy. Coming to Geneva with all those corporate slaves with their little Blackberries being able to have their emails in their pockets made me crave for one of these neat little thingies really bad.

I have my Blackberry for nearly a year now and I would never ever go back to a regular cell phone, besides I am no longer able to type messages on a normal keypad. It takes ages since I am so used to the full QWERTY keyboard of the Curve.

If you are a social butterfly, a BB is the tool for you. Facebook, MSN Messenger, Aim, ICQ, Google Talk, Skype, BB Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google maps to find your way to that party, mobile blogging simply everything is in there and you can even play videos in a very good quality if you are waiting for the tram or play a little bit of poker if a party is a tad boring. Everyone will think that you are simply busy maintaining your network.

The bad thing is that I am so hooked on the BB that it is hardly more than a meter away from where I am. It sits on my nighstand when I sleep, a bomb could explode right next to me and I wouldn´t wake up, the vibrating sound of the BB wakes me up without a problem though, that´s how conditioned I am , sad I know. I take a shower, the BB is on the sink, when i am out and about I have the BB in my hand most of the time. Maybe I have commitment issues or something but I feel lost and alone when I don´t have my Curve in my hand when I am out, there could always be another party, a friend in need of help or simply an interesting email I could miss.

I think I have to work on that issue and I really have to get the thought of encrusting that thing in black rhinestones out of my head.