Thanks to our need to constantly inform others of what we’re doing and where we are, robbers’ jobs just got a lot easier.
With Web site applications such as Google Buzz and Foursquare, people are now not only updating their Facebook statuses and tweeting that they are leaving their houses to go buy milk from the grocery store, but we are now letting the entire Internet know that we have “checked in” at the Randall’s around the corner.
We don’t mean to offend anyone, but are we all idiots? Are we really so self-centered that we think anyone cares? And if you care, you should probably find something better to do with your time.
The Internet, for all its potential, has been resigned to a meaningless information center. But here’s the bright side: We can change that.
Instead of informing each other of our locations every day — yes, we check in to work every morning, too — why don’t we use the Internet to share relevant information, such as political dissent, literary knowledge and do-it-yourself projects.
There’s a limitless amount of information at our fingertips every day. But we prefer to read about what our friends are planning to do for a girls’ night out or what they think of their favorite coffee shop.
Then again, maybe that’s what the Internet was meant to do in the first place. Maybe it’s a distraction created by the government to involve all the world’s citizens in meaningless conversations so they no longer have any idea what is going on in their country, or what’s going on in other countries that affects them for that matter.
But that’s just us. Some of us still believe former President George W. Bush created Facebook so no one could ever use the “I didn’t inhale” defense when running for political office.
Are you starting to rethink posting that picture on Facebook? You should be.
