- you set up a wi-fi network in your home by yourself.
- your laptop is almost always ON and connected to your little homemade wi-fi network.
- your phone's wi-fi detector is always ON.
- you know where the hotspots are (and where the hottest spot in that hotspot is).
- the TV is on but it's not a show you geek out on, so you're on your phone or laptop browsing through:
- Or better yet: you're logged in to Tweetdeck / Hootsuite / Seesmic / or the like
- Digg / Reddit / whatever other community-based news portal you frequent
- Feedreader / Google Reader / whatever other RSS reader you use
- Blogger / Wordpress / Tumblr / wherever your blog is hosted
- StumbleUpon
- Linked In
- Gmail / Yahoo Mail - that is, if you remember to log in (I do only because they're on my "startup pages" list in Chrome. If you're not using Chrome -- what's wrong with you?)
- The myriad of other websites / blogs / what-nots that sweeten your cup of nerd-vana tea.
- And let's not forget that you are also probably downloading a few dozen goodies ;-)
I've been living online since 1998. What I most appreciate about the current state of the digital world is, the birth of the constantly-evolving ecosystem called the Social Web. I think the best thing that it did is to organize all the information scattered abroad in the Internet universe (or what was known as the "information highway" hehe!). Social Media is built in a way that lets us individually set our imprint on our own unique digital worlds. Wherever we intersect with other online citizens, the interaction is meant to be more efficient and specific. And fast, let's not forget that.
But here's where the problem lies: there are way too many choices. There are too many ways to be part of the online community. Even if you eventually get your digital tools and online habits sorted out, it's still a lot. I mean, just look at me. Look at all the stuff I access when I'm online.
And yet, think about how much information we can still cope with. It's amazing how much the human brain has adjusted and keeps on adjusting.
I guess the only solution really is to keep finding better ways of managing my social network. That, or I could just go offline :-)
