Loose connections? A not-so-shocking future…

In Future Shock, Alvin Toffler presents us with his view of how people can easily become overwhelmed by change in the world around them including family, work, education, and technology.  The most compelling part of his argument comes in parts one and two of the book entitled “The Death of Permanence” and “Transience”, respectively.  In these sections, Toffler looks at the changing world in respect to the

Casual Sex on College Campuses??? OMG!!!

A new website, eduhookup.com, launched from a dorm room at the University of Chicago, is helping elite college students find casual sex hook-ups on their campus.  Of course, there are people who find this abhorrent and suggest that people who engage in causal sex find it more difficult to emotionally and intellectually connect with their partners.  No kidding.  That seems to be the point.  Especially for the socially awkward twenty-somethings for whom the site was created.  This is no doubt only the first that we will hear about this site.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the University of Chicago is ultimately pressured to shut down the site, which appears to be run off of its servers.  However, administrators should take a minute, make some popcorn, and spend and hour or two watching ‘The Social Network’.  This site, with its goals and intended audience, is precisely what Mark Zuckerberg had in mind when he started a social networking site to enable Ivy Leaguers to intermingle with their own.  It would be a shame if the University of Chicago pissed off a student who might one day be worth more than the University’s endowment.

Technology and Politics in the Age of Digital Media

Clay Shirkey on Facebook and Twitter as tools of change: In an interview with WSJ’s Alan Murray, social media expert Clay Shirky discusses the effect of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in the recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and what it could mean for the Middle East at large.

The next time someone asks you what Twitter is for…

The events in Cairo, Egypt are not the first time that social media use has produced tangible effects.  However, I don’t recall people going to such lengths to remain connected to the world beyond their borders.  One broadcast included reports of people faxing messages to London and elsewhere so their comments could be Tweeted and posted to FB during the government imposed internet blackout.  This episode should also serve to remind us that even as technology advances, there may always exist a need to support such advances with  the precursors on which they were conceived.

Sidebar: I am also somewhat intrigued by the relative ubiquity of the phrase “Game Over” in the Egyptian protest movement.  There are many ways to say the jig is up.  Is it coincidence that they chose the one that is associated with gaming?  Perhaps there is more to Ms. McGonigal’s message then some people would be willing to concede.