Virtual Insanity

My summer has been fairly uneventful thus far with my injury and the sudden disappearance of my friends. My close confidant Kendra has recently moved back to Toronto from studying in Leeds. I've missed her greatly - naturally, she's felt the same - and so we planned to see our all-time favourite bisexual celebrity in A Mighty Heart. I searched the internet for showtimes and we planned dinner before seeing the film. There was a show at 7h30. Perfect! [Kendra's still jetlagged and wanted to be home by 9h30... I know, we've gone from dancing on railings to home before sundown. We've truly turned into a wild pair.] When we got to the cinema, there was, however, no 7h30 show on the huge electronic sign hanging above the box office. Why's that? That's because A Mighty Heart, as we could soon learn from the ticket seller, was not playing at that cinema. WHAT?! I check the location and times on the internet. How could this be? All was not lost as I still had a lovely time at dinner and equally lovely - but awkward - time watching Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer with a room full of little kids and their parents.

It got me thinking... Of course, we all know that what is online is not always truth in the real world. But do we really? I'm not just talking about incorrect movie openings. You turn on your computer, click the icon for your internet browser, and then POW! You are taken to a virtual world full of everything that is known to man, something called "pixels" [whatever those are], and all lies and falsities you could ever imagine. Yay! Let's talk about MySpace, for instance, shall we? Yay! Almost everyone on MySpace has an innumerable number of friends who have found their way onto the ol' friends list but have never been or may never be met in-person. Despite my old tendency to judge this particular situation, I've come around and learned to appreciate the "online friend". I have people on my list who I've never met so this to me is fine. However, is it fine that most people's profiles do not portray the person they are in the real world? It is without a doubt in my mind that people write things online they would never say in person, turn from shy to overtly sexual for the sake of a thoroughly observed photo section, and, of course, exaggerate certain qualities to attract certain friends. My first thought is that I hate MySpace... but then I come to my senses. I realize MySpace isn't evil and that I'm probably just as bad as half of these people. We are lying to ourselves about ourselves for others. Later, this idea came to me: maybe who we see online are not lies but the true person that is inhibited in the real world? If we do something shocking online, we don't have deal with the consequences. We just click "block" then "delete" everyone and get new friends. Or do more subtle things... but I'm tad dramatic [in person and in my virtual self] so think up the subtle ways yourself. Hem. Regardless, I think we should all keep in mind that before and after this virtual insanity, we are the people who live and breathe in flesh and blood. We should be aiming to improve ourselves as real people not our profile photos. Oh, and by the way, just as a reality check to those kids who's online profiles scream "too cool for school!", you're not fooling anyone. I know you are actually just students with emo haircuts and bad taste in music so fuck off, k?

Any thoughts? (: