{"id":40,"date":"2011-03-16T03:44:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T16:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zenashapter.com\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2021-08-30T16:42:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T06:42:43","slug":"is-social-media-simply-time-travel-teleportation-in-disguise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/is-social-media-simply-time-travel-teleportation-in-disguise\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Social Media Simply Time Travel & Teleportation In Disguise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent post on io9.com asked what science fiction could tell us about the future of social media: http:\/\/io9.com\/#!5781908<\/a>. Annalee Newitz started the post by pointing out that, right now, you are reading a piece of social media, which can be passed around various social networks and thus be read by people who have never even heard of io9.com, or in this case Zena Shapter. The implication is that social media enables us to reach people we might not ordinarily be able to reach, and that this is changing the way we communicate.<\/p>\n

The post then goes on to offer insight from various SF authors, all happy to imagine where this new and unique thing called social media might be taking us as a civilisation.<\/p>\n

Now, whilst I agree that social media is changing the way we communicate, I don\u2019t consider it as an entirely unique or new concept. I haven\u2019t studied history since I was 18, evenso I can remember being<\/em> 18 and the way we communicated back then<\/em>, and I\u2019m certain that the ability to communicate with unknown multitudes through decentralised, publically-accessible worldwide frameworks has been around for centuries\u2026<\/p>\n

Before the internet, anonymous deliberators could self-publish their personal views, news, opinions, gossip and ideas in media such as newsletters, pamphlets, flyers, gazettes, bulletins, brochures and booklets. They could then distribute those media on the street or to\u2026 libraries, where gaggles of strangers could read it, for free. In fact, believe it or not, but I was in Warringah Mall Library on Saturday and\u2026 they still can. There are noticeboards and shelves full of printed media, leaflets and notices, all in the one place, all written by a variety of, well, strangers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

There were ways...<\/p><\/div>\n

And, get this, in libraries people can discuss what they read in real time, face to face! It\u2019s similar to discussing things over the Internet, it\u2019s just you do it by talking, not typing (ha, ha!). Talking might sound small-scale, but ideas with value have always found their way to global audiences by word-of-mouth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

...and means!<\/p><\/div>\n

There are not so many about now, but there used to be political clubs and community halls, where strangers with alike ideologies could discuss ideas and events, without the shhh-ing of a librarian. Weekly church services used to be a great source of personal news too, in some communities they still are. And hey, whilst we\u2019re looking back in time, look up \u2018Ancient Greek Clubs\u2019 in Wikipedia!<\/p>\n

We have always had avatars; it\u2019s just we once called them strangers with pseudonyms.<\/p>\n

We have always had user-generated content and consumer-generated media; it\u2019s just we once called it gossip, read it in the society pages or saw it active in political unrest.<\/p>\n

We have always had a social hive mind; it\u2019s just we once called it a social consciousness.<\/p>\n

We have always had collective memory; it\u2019s just we once stored our histories on microfiche, in archives, in memorised stories or by carving them into stone.<\/p>\n

Yes, anyone can share information quickly and easily over the Internet. But strong voices, literate or not, have always been able to spread news and ideas to unknown masses and, in that, nothing has changed.<\/p>\n

So if the reach, accessibility, usability and permanence of communication haven\u2019t changed, what has? Immediacy?<\/p>\n

Yes, the speed with which we can now do what we have always done has increased exponentially. But will this really affect us as a civilisation? Hasn\u2019t physical isolation always been welcomed by some, fought by others? Same with encroaching corporeal dormancy? Surely such battles will continue on an individual level, irrespective of the challenges ahead?<\/p>\n

No, I believe that the only real affect of this immediacy lies in the blurring between the future we once dreamed about and the realisation that it might be here after all\u2026<\/p>\n

For we can travel into the past now in the blink of an archived eye \u2013 and some might call that time travel \u2013 and we no longer have to journey to the library or our local political club to banter information or discuss ideas, we can do that from our keyboards \u2013 and some might call that teleportation\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Image from the movie "Jumper"<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent post on io9.com asked what science fiction could tell us about the future of social media: http:\/\/io9.com\/#!5781908. Annalee Newitz started the post by pointing out that, right now, you are reading a piece of social media, which can be passed around various social networks and thus be read\u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[43,48,68,108,120,126,128,249,288,378,481,491,561,578,579,628,658,675,705],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writer-advice","tag-annalee-newitz","tag-archives","tag-avatars","tag-cgm","tag-civilisation","tag-collective-memory","tag-community-halls","tag-gossip","tag-io9-com","tag-library","tag-physical-isolation","tag-political-clubs","tag-self-publish","tag-social-hive-mind","tag-social-media","tag-teleportation","tag-time-travel","tag-ugc","tag-word-of-mouth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14266,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/14266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}