I recently read My Dinner With Clay Shirky, and What I Learned About Friendship by my good friend David Carr. Well, to be honest, I don't actually know David Carr but I know some of his writing. New York Times stuff, of course, as well as The Night of the Gun, in which he explores the limits of memory by reporting on the events of his very screwed up, drug addicted life. He does this by going back and interviewing people who were present during particular instances in his life and comparing his memories with the memories of the people he interviews. Brilliant concept, even if it is completely narcissistic in the execution, but hey it's David Carr, what do you expect?
In this particular piece, Carr contemplates the pros and cons of digital interaction. This is nothing new. We've all pondered the way that we can feel so damn lonely after spending hours on social media and "interacting" with all our digital friends. I'm reminded of the commercial where a teenager pityingly looks at her parents' Facebook pages and verbally laments the fact that they have so few friends. While she is reveling in her own Facebook popularity, the ad cuts to her parents who are out biking and living life with actual friends. I don't even know what the ad is supposed to be selling, but I always find myself chuckling at the absurdity of the teenager.
These days, I'm trying to be less of a digital curmudgeon, but I do agree with Carr's rather obvious conclusion when he says "...you can follow someone on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, quote or be quoted by them in a newspaper article, but until you taste their bread, you don't really know them."
So I will end this post by saying, great point my friend. Wait, we are friends, aren't we? Dave?
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