Freedom. We like to say that word. A lot.
We like to think we’re free, too. Yet, thinking in this day and age, supposedly an age where information is readily available, and where, therefore, finding something to think about should be easy, proves difficult, instead.
Information overload? Yes, that’s one possible cause – learning to filter the data that hits us is not so easy; yet other difficulties, lurk in the folds of this increasingly social network of things, ideas, information, disinformation and human nature (yeah, that too, guess what?) that the web is.
Are you a Facebook or a G+ kind of person? Would you much rather tweet, follow, retweet, and enter the apparently easy art-form of hash-tagging your thoughts? Do you blog? Yes, blog you very much, however I Wordpress, I would never, ever go near Blogspotting myself, that would be plain stupid, there are much better platforms than that, dude!
Multiple choices, Flickers of reality, tons of Pinterests one can get passionate about, and, oh, really? You still have a MySpace account for your band? I didn’t even know MySpace even did exist anymore! Seriously? And you also have gigs? Awesome! I must check it out, sometime, I’ll do, that, sure.
Freely, we log on and roam our interfaces, make use of some or all of their many little quirks, tricks, shortcuts, and oh, we just love it when we can link one platform to another - if you’re not a Facebook Taliban, or a G+ extremist linking the two proves effective, trust me; would you add Twitter, too? Sure, why not summarize your impact on the web with a Klout account, too? Go for it.
Your platform(s) of choice surely gives you some sort of freedom; freedom of speech, or expression, let’s say; freedom of socialization? Freedom, right? I can write what I damn well please on my timeline, and I resent it when my friends disagree bitterly with my point of view, or tell me I’m stupid. It’s my freaking timeline after all, right? I have the right to put on it whatever I want, right?
Right, right, right.
So at one point or another (way back, at the beginning of your story) you were given a username. Oh, littleflower is no longer available here’s a list of suggestions generated by our software you might care to choose from: flowerlittle28, lflower473, lf3205307. That’s how you’ll be known to the other users… That’s not your real name? Isn’t that part of the fun? Or… Oh, really, do I have to verify my identity? Interesting… how can I really prove to something in the cloud that I am me?
But we must be brief, let’s let that lie.
Forget it, so, now you’re forever marked with your new online identity, you are making a first step into a wider word, right? You have a Username, not just a Name anymore. Aren’t you ecstatic? So much so that you might even get yourself a Username tattoo? Think… lf3205307 on the back of your neck, maybe slightly Star-Trek-Borg-style with a nice barcode translation beneath it. Make it a 2D barcode.
I forget who it was that tattooed people when welcoming them into a world where work would give one freedom. Oh, but I trust you would remember that better than me.
So, now that that username business out is of the way, let’s start blogging, posting status updates, creating groups, discussing stuff, you know? Let’s start exploring this newly widened world, this expanded experience beyond your own. Let’s go!
How strange… I can’t make my cover image private. Damn, I’d really like to, but I can’t, no matter what, oh, right it’s written in the governance documents, too. Oh, well, never mind – this is great anyway, I'll just need to change that image. Oh, but wait, I cannot actually delete any photos in that default "cover images" album I didn’t even know I had in my profile. That’s too bad… Oh, well, I guess nobody will browse that album anyway, my new cover image is so much cooler, so much less embarrassing.
We all explore; explore, and expand; test the limits of our new, free, interactive, social, multimedia platforms… We test the boundaries of our increasingly tinier little cages. I’ll post a status update while I’m working, what’s wrong with that, a little look at notifications on my phone while I’m driving home.
Oh, we just love to be in this. We love the time we spend in our tiny little cages, with their arbitrary rules, their very well-motivated reasons why certain things are not allowed, their well-defined, and “appropriate” ways of interacting, and no, we’re not going to give you a “dislike” or a “-1” button to publicly express discontent, we’re all friends here, after all, right? Wouldn't it be so, so inappropriate and politically incorrect? Right, and, sure, if you really, really want, you can anonymously report or flag a post as spam, offensive, discriminatory, no, I’m sorry we don’t have a radio button choice for “stupid” that is a bit of a harsh a word, isn’t it? No, I’m sorry we don’t also have a freely modifiable field for your sexual orientation or your relationship status. Why would you need one, anyway? Aren’t there only the allowed kinds out there?
I keep on forgetting who it was that built fences around filthy barracks and would not allow the inmates out, other than out the chimneys. But here again, I bet you do, your memory must so much better than mine.
However, and this is not at all surprising, it’s not only the wardens who set the rules. Captives just love to do the same, and they’re as good as the wardens to make them as stupid, and arbitrary as possible.
One would speculate that in the web all pages are created equal. No one would be further from The Truth: Even if there’s no such thing as a correct, or better, way to share content, ideas, or anything, really, over any other, somebody, rest assured, will beg to differ and volunteer, not always kindly, to show you which way is The Way.
Yet...
Everything is out there, remember, you’re free to choose how to access it; everything is just but a click away from you, right? Aren’t we all friends?
(while you read this, just smile. Do it, even if you don't feel like it. Do it, really, it is the appropriate thing to do. While you do that, be very, very afraid, too.)
Then, think again. Or better (worse?), regroup.
Realize this: groups (with very few exceptions) foster conformism. If you obey the rules of the prison, er, I meant, the platform, group, social network, etc., then everything’s fine and dandy. If, on the other hand, you deviate from the (mostly unwritten) rules, then shame on you.
Stupid, real-life example? Sure!
There are so many people who have keyboards in front of them with so much spare time for otherwise lazy fingers, wouldn’t it be a shame to let those keys, and fingers alone? So we have evolved from a species of reluctant (with some exceptions) readers, to what we have always been, really, being the descendants of chit-chattering apes, and shit; we have evolved, in the tiny, well-organized confines of our social networks, into a species of unstoppable writers. Oh, and we all think we’re so very good, too! And, oh, we so much do not care about what others write, too!
And so, we write, and people who write similar things, as they would do, create groups and pour their writings in there, and please do post all of your comments (as long as they won’t hurt my feelings, but I won’t tell you that, of course, you should know, since it’s the rule) as they are all gladly welcome and no, I didn’t post any comments on your piece of prose, or poetry, I didn’t want to offend you, by saying that I think it’s just, well, you know… Not very good, OK? Okay, I think it’s a piece of shit, but with some work I’m sure… Why did you ban me from the group?
Some people, like me, challenge, without even noticing, the system. I just realized that. I must be a revolutionary without my knowledge!
When I post in some of these groups I don’t actually write what I wrote on the group’s timeline… I just copy and paste a link to my blog entry. My blog, though still not totally free from certain constraints, and part of yet another platform, is where I want to post, and so I do. I spent some time on it, I am so glad it doesn’t have a white and blue and grey theme, but a dark one with a picture I love, and an atmosphere that I like and, and, and ok… yes, shame on me, I use Blogger, but I’m considering, from time to time to join the Wordpress cult – Can I join even though I don’t have a Mac? Is that even allowed?
Recently, I was made to realize that this behavior of mine is, well, apparently, horribly wrong! I didn’t know, until now, how challenging to the staus quo is posting a link to something outside of Facebook or G+ to Facebook and G+. You just can’t do something like that, can you? It’s so… well, against the rules, right? Plus, remember, clicking a link that leads me out of Facebook could lead to potentially harmful websites, couldn’t it? Plus, it’s not in Facebook – I love my blue header line, with the reassuring white facebook logo; all the blue and white peacefulness of the page; I just don’t care about your custom theme on Blogger (why don't you use Wordpress, again?), or your incredibly ornate background on your Wordpress page (good choice of platform, though, kudos for that), or, even worse, your custom, flash-based interface on your own personal website that you spent days, weeks, or years working on – all I want, all I need, all I ever really care about is within the platform I chose and embraced, the one that reflects and encompasses my life, the one where my timeline is mine, only mine, it represents my very personal evolution, my path in this social world, and no trespassing or trespassers, please.
Wasn’t there a queer psychological syndrome by which hostages become strangely attached to their kidnappers? I forget what Northern Europe’s city that syndrome is named after, but I’m sure you do, your memory must be so much better than mine, plus you can readily Google what I’m talking about in a matter of seconds. You’re free to do it. Oh, sorry, you Bing, not Google? So, so sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything bad, by saying you Googled – oh, wait, for some reason I can’t see your profile or your group anymore. Have you banned me? Again?
We’re so enamored with our tiny, increasingly tinier, little cages, with our tiny, increasingly tinier little rules, with our narrow, increasingly narrower minds, and we’re not alone in this. We have groups to back us. Not only do we have groups, we whole social networks, the world at large supports our narrow mindedness, mind you…
So will you just write your damn haiku in full on this page, and do not post the link only, did you hear us? It is just not respectful, polite, or efficient, to post a link to something else. Plus, what if that something else (god forbid, Blogger, seriously?!?) stinks? Are you sure I cannot catch a virus from there? Maybe one of those 24-.hours android viruses that are going around of late? What if my phone gets wiped after following that link? Huh?!?
I’m sad to report, but I’m pretty sure I’m neither alone, nor first here, that groups, social networks, and similar aggregates of people do not think.
Individuals think.
Groups don’t.
Groups do something else:
they groupthink.
Google it. Bing it. More importantly, grok it (Google that “grok” word, too, will you, please?), get it, understand it, and, no, do not conform; do not bend; do not obey; do not comply; deviate from the rules, question them, establish your own. You can try to do so even from within these systems. And then of course you can do so from outside of them if you have the ability and the time.
Do what you want, what you feel like doing, and, perhaps, be also ready to motivate it (mostly, I must warn you, in vain, since groups, again don’t think, or understand). Mine is just a little, trivial example. Whatever it is you do, just remember to do it your own way and to hell with what the mob thinks.
You think.
A group does not.
Groupthink, I know you don’t get it, but, get this!
Group, Think! by Dario Beltrami is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://ubhaikuitous.blogspot.com/2012/11/group-think.html.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ubhaikuitous.blogspot.com.
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