My Virtual Reading Room

(thanks to konstansa for the video and interview quote)

"I came up with the idea for the video when I started to realise how ridiculous we are all being, myself included, when I was at a concert and people around me were recording the show with their phones, not actually watching the concert," deGuzman said in an interview.
"It makes me sad that there are moments in our lives where we're not present because we're looking at a phone," said deGuzman, who also wrote the piece, which was directed by Miles Crawford.
People make dinner reservations on OpenTable; check in on Foursquare when they arrive at the restaurant; take a picture of their food to share on Instagram; post on Twitter a joke they hear during the meal; review the restaurant on Yelp; then, finally, coordinate a ride home using Uber."

You can read the entire article here:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/disruptions-more-connected-yet-more-alone/

And something of a counterpoint here:

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/no_smartphones_are_not_destroying_the_culture/
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And here's an article about a Facebook app, 'Rather': http://news.yahoo.com/rather-is-a-new-service-that-blocks-all-of-your-friends-most-annoying-facebook-status-updates-153026382.html

This is the bit that caught my eye:

" 'Rather' sounds like a jokey comment on the way we “socialize” now, but even if it is, it also represents a line of thought that would make Facebook genuinely enjoyable instead of the digital-life obligation it’s become."
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P.S. Here's another interesting article re: Facebook: http://wendykeller.com/featured/liars-fakes-on-facebook/
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Comments and opinions are welcome, as always...