Play With My Pussy...Cat

Imagine your friend sets you up on a blind date at fancy restaurant that has decorated silver cutlery and won’t let you in unless you’re wearing dress shoes. Each table has a candle, little flames dotting the spacious plaza like fireflies. You arrive early, out of courtesy of course, and wait eagerly as you browse the wine menu, twiddling your thumbs and tapping your right foot. In walks the girl, she’s attractive enough, not “giggity giggity” hot or gut wrenchingly ugly, so you decide to stay rather than to fake an emergency phone call from your great aunt about the death of your 3^rd cousin.

You introduce yourself.

“Hi I’m ….”

She smiles politely, and says this:

Before I get going, there’s nothing wrong with cats. They’re great. But to be moved to tears by cats is such an oddity that Debbie’s e-Harmony video has garnered over 22 million views on YouTube. It’s not something you’d say to someone on a first date, right? So why is she comfortable saying it online?

The digital age has allowed for a nifty trade off when it comes to communication. Computers, the internet, instant messaging, skype or whatever has made talking and interacting with other people easier and more readily available. The plus side is that it allows for a “social defense”. There is safety behind the screen. One is able to say what they feel and do what they want without any social repercussions such as, say, rejection, a slap across the face or a kick to the crotch. Yes, you are communicating with other people, but are you really “connecting” with people or just to your router?

The continuing advancement of technology and digital culture is leading to drastic changes in the way we communicate. This can be seen most prominently in aspects of online gaming.

Matthew Dekneef in a Thought Catalog article sums it up perfectly:

I’m a comprehensive and instant means of self-expression. You’re building a fluid identity on me, ideally an irl reflection of you. Eventually, you may seem so real and cool you might even be impressed by you.

The internet allows people to present themselves in anyway they feel comfortable, free from direct ramifications of the people that they interact with. A number of Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (Abbreviated to MMORPG’s) have arisen, allowing consumers to enter a fantasy world through an avatar that they are able to customize and create. The player is able to then live vicariously through the avatar (which may be an orc, an elf, a wizard, assassin, etc) which is able to kill, die, buy, sell and interact with others. Some games have even begun the inclusion of real world currency into the buying and selling of items into the fantasy world, further blurring the line between real and virtual for players. 

Nick Yee discusses the motivation for playing, highlighting the fact that the games allow people to escape the mundane and are able to expand their social circle exponentially through the online universe.

Essentially, the games serve as a catalyst wherein the players are able to present themselves holistically within the virtual universe, or completely reinvent themselves. This serves to aid the socially handicapped.

In a discussion taking place on a forum a man writes:

“I am a nerd. The internet has improved my social skills by putting me in touch with bazillions of people interested in similar eccentricities.”

Another comments:

“The internet helps because it means I can take in conversations at a more measured pace, and can switch them off easily and without causing offence if they get too overwhelming.”

This social comfort that people can experience is, obviously, not able to be translated into the real world. When one becomes acclimatized, used to, this form of communicating, it can prove detrimental in “real life”.

Another user rebuts that the internet is a “poor substitute” for real world interactions.

And arguably so. One is not able to take conversations at a measured pace or merely shut a conversation down if it gets dull. A dependence on the “social security” that the internet offers can prove to be detrimental.

In an article by Holly Ojalvo, She quotes Abigail Moore who comments that “the reliance of cell phones and internet is helping people avoid uncomfortable situations”. This may sound nice, but the communication breakdown that is caused by such reliance may eventually lead to negative effects and further friction down the road.

Essentially, not only is the internet and technology allowing people to change themselves, but its also change the way that they express their feelings.

Online gaming is merely one example of the way continuing advancements in technology and digital culture is changing the way that people communicate with each other. It can either be seen as a communication aid or detrimental to “real world” inter-personal skills but one cannot doubt the evolution of communication.

We can either deny it or embrace the change and tell the whole world that we love cats.