My brother-in-law had to fire one of his employees the other day for addiction. To Facebook. Even after repeated warnings, she just couldn't stay away from her account, spending up to five hours per day on the web site. We all know a few people who spend too much time tweeting and texting, looking for BFFs and exaggerating about their accomplishments on social web sites. Worldwide, Facebook alone has over 250 million users- that's roughly one in every 24 people on the planet Earth. 30 million users update their status at least once per day. This translates into more than 5 billion minutes spent on Facebook each day. Each day.
Let's put these numbers into perspective. Each day, 80 million hours are wasted. Each day, 3.47 million days are wasted. Each day 9,312 years are wasted. Each day, 126 lifetimes are wasted. On Facebook. Let's not even get into Twitter Tweets, MySpace and the host of other dating sites and virtual realities where people spend their days, nights and wee hours of the morning. 80 million hours spent letting people know about more about ourselves. Are we an egotistical species or what? The frightening part is that these social networking sites are still experiencing hockey stick-like growth. As a society, we have yet to reach out full potential for wasting time.
Ego centrism aside, think about the parallels between our fledgling use of online persona's/virtual reality/social networking and the movie "The Matrix". If you're one of the nine people who have not yet seen "The Matrix" (mom), I'll quickly explain. Computers have taken over the planet. Humans are essentially used to power the vast network of machines that have taken over the world. We're kept alive for the sole purpose of supplying the electrical current that runs through our bodies like an entire race of 170-pound hairy Duracell batteries. In the meantime, we're kept in a semi-comatose state, unaware of the reality that we're actually curled up naked in a ball as part of an giant energy-producing human grid. Meanwhile, the computers have downloaded a "program" to our minds, "The Matrix", that masks reality and leads us to believe that we're living normal lives just as we did prior to the computer revolution and subsequent enslavement. This virtual reality is provided to sustain and entertain us while we sit idle, slaves to an oppressive force that only views us as a resource meant to be exploited. Starting to sound familiar?
So maybe machines have not taken over the world, and virtual realities and social networking,are not nearly as sophisticated or malicious. But it's no longer a quantum leap to think that we're becoming enslaved on the online world. Sure, we still have freedom, choice and mobility. We're not actually curled up naked on the floor with a power cord attached to us. Well, most of us, anyway.
But it won't be long before someone starts doing a little math. 5 billion minutes online equals x,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx, of keystrokes per day. A generator hooked up to our keyboards could have the potential of generating xxx wattage. Or maybe it's a kinetic generator in our chair. How many watts can our super-sized bottoms generate? 250 million users at an average of 150 pounds equals a lot of mass that could be converted into energy. Perhaps it's something more obvious that they're after. We're kept in virtual realities, not to feed from our energy, but to feed from our bank accounts.
If you're not familiar with Second Life, the name sums it up well. Create another life for yourself online where you socialize, live and learn with other "real" phony people who have also created second lives. In the first quarter of 2009, 124 million hours were spent living in this fantasy land. My initial reaction is to ask what is so horrible with our "first lives"? Maybe if users spent more time improving their "first lives", there would be no need for a second. Just a thought.
A fundamental advantage of Second Life is that the physical world has limitations. The virtual world has fewer limitations, and entrepreneurs understand this. 124 million hours is a lot of time to sell products and services to users. We're all well aware of Internet advertising, but lets put it in a different context. Now, advertisers have the ability to sell worthless products and services to "improve" not just one life, but two. Because who doesn't need a virtual Ginsu knife that saws through a virtual can, and still slices a virtual tomato with virtual ease?
On Second Life you are given virtual money, but there are real dollars to be made by your "virtual" characters. You can provide goods and services to other members for real currency. For instance, designers will create a custom avatar (your virtual character), or provide designer clothes for your character for a nominal amount. But those nominal amounts add up. There are some industrious members who make more than one million dollars per year in real money, selling fake products and services to fake people. Commerce in Second Life is modeled after the real world, so the opportunities are very similar. You can actually buy land and then rent or sell it to other members for real money. Why would they pay real money for virtual land? Because it's cheap, and they are committed to the success of their Second Life characters. Over 64,000 people made a profit from Second Life "goods and services" last year.
Let's put these numbers into perspective. Each day, 80 million hours are wasted. Each day, 3.47 million days are wasted. Each day 9,312 years are wasted. Each day, 126 lifetimes are wasted. On Facebook. Let's not even get into Twitter Tweets, MySpace and the host of other dating sites and virtual realities where people spend their days, nights and wee hours of the morning. 80 million hours spent letting people know about more about ourselves. Are we an egotistical species or what? The frightening part is that these social networking sites are still experiencing hockey stick-like growth. As a society, we have yet to reach out full potential for wasting time.
Ego centrism aside, think about the parallels between our fledgling use of online persona's/virtual reality/social networking and the movie "The Matrix". If you're one of the nine people who have not yet seen "The Matrix" (mom), I'll quickly explain. Computers have taken over the planet. Humans are essentially used to power the vast network of machines that have taken over the world. We're kept alive for the sole purpose of supplying the electrical current that runs through our bodies like an entire race of 170-pound hairy Duracell batteries. In the meantime, we're kept in a semi-comatose state, unaware of the reality that we're actually curled up naked in a ball as part of an giant energy-producing human grid. Meanwhile, the computers have downloaded a "program" to our minds, "The Matrix", that masks reality and leads us to believe that we're living normal lives just as we did prior to the computer revolution and subsequent enslavement. This virtual reality is provided to sustain and entertain us while we sit idle, slaves to an oppressive force that only views us as a resource meant to be exploited. Starting to sound familiar?
So maybe machines have not taken over the world, and virtual realities and social networking,are not nearly as sophisticated or malicious. But it's no longer a quantum leap to think that we're becoming enslaved on the online world. Sure, we still have freedom, choice and mobility. We're not actually curled up naked on the floor with a power cord attached to us. Well, most of us, anyway.
But it won't be long before someone starts doing a little math. 5 billion minutes online equals x,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx, of keystrokes per day. A generator hooked up to our keyboards could have the potential of generating xxx wattage. Or maybe it's a kinetic generator in our chair. How many watts can our super-sized bottoms generate? 250 million users at an average of 150 pounds equals a lot of mass that could be converted into energy. Perhaps it's something more obvious that they're after. We're kept in virtual realities, not to feed from our energy, but to feed from our bank accounts.
If you're not familiar with Second Life, the name sums it up well. Create another life for yourself online where you socialize, live and learn with other "real" phony people who have also created second lives. In the first quarter of 2009, 124 million hours were spent living in this fantasy land. My initial reaction is to ask what is so horrible with our "first lives"? Maybe if users spent more time improving their "first lives", there would be no need for a second. Just a thought.
A fundamental advantage of Second Life is that the physical world has limitations. The virtual world has fewer limitations, and entrepreneurs understand this. 124 million hours is a lot of time to sell products and services to users. We're all well aware of Internet advertising, but lets put it in a different context. Now, advertisers have the ability to sell worthless products and services to "improve" not just one life, but two. Because who doesn't need a virtual Ginsu knife that saws through a virtual can, and still slices a virtual tomato with virtual ease?
On Second Life you are given virtual money, but there are real dollars to be made by your "virtual" characters. You can provide goods and services to other members for real currency. For instance, designers will create a custom avatar (your virtual character), or provide designer clothes for your character for a nominal amount. But those nominal amounts add up. There are some industrious members who make more than one million dollars per year in real money, selling fake products and services to fake people. Commerce in Second Life is modeled after the real world, so the opportunities are very similar. You can actually buy land and then rent or sell it to other members for real money. Why would they pay real money for virtual land? Because it's cheap, and they are committed to the success of their Second Life characters. Over 64,000 people made a profit from Second Life "goods and services" last year.
These are just a few of the ways people attempt to keep us online. And yes, I recognize the irony of stating this while writing a blog on the Internet. Not everything online is nefarious. But if you recall the first Matrix movie, it wasn't until Neo realized what was happening, did he crave the physical world- even with all of it's imperfections, mosquitoes, overcooked steaks and reality television. We haven't quite realized what is happening yet.
But as we continue to march toward a Facebook and Second Life congruence with implications greater than I care to consider at 12:07am on a Friday, just try to remember what grass smells like. Think about the sounds of a forest awakening at the break of dawn. The feel of dew on your bare feet. The sound of the wind in the treetops on a quiet, cool September afternoon. The feeling of the sun beating on your shoulders, and salt water in your nose. Think of all of these real things, and then get the hell off of your computer and go experience them. But make sure you come back to read my blogs, of course.
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