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| (lolcats on the nets) |
Can you recall the day you learned how to create and send out a text? Or the day you received your first text message? I can recall the very first person I had a text conversation with; I remember feeling giddy, tech savvy, and full of excitement.
My first finger conversation was with a boy I went to high school with; we had a past, but had lost touch over some time. Because 
of a single text message, a text message of simple words, “hey how are you?” the boy and I were able to rekindle an old flame. Talk about exhilarating.
When I think back at the beginning stages of texting, I still get thrilled. It was new and freeing. I wasn’t faced with the horror of actually speaking over the phone or in person, with the individual I liked or maybe didn't like. I don’t know if you were all as shy as me as a teenager, or young adult, but boy-oh-boy my face turned into an instant tomato as soon as I was approached or approached someone I was crushing on. It was embarrassing and exhausting. I always felt I needed to pre-plan a scripted conversation in my head before actually speaking.
With that said, the popularizing of the text message allowed me come out of my shell. I began to develop a sense of confidence, and was more at ease not only messaging people but talking to them face-to-face as well. I believe that the progression of text messaging has really helped in developing my personality; I suppose it became part of me as well, an important part of me.
“We have seen young people walk the halls of their schools composing messages to online acquaintances they will never meet. We have seen them feeling more alive when connected, then disoriented and alone when they leave their screens. Some live more than half their waking hours in virtual places.” (265)
Turkle discusses the excitement one feels when they are connected, she claims that “some live more than half their walking hours in virtual places” I believe this to be true, but I do not see a fault in it. Turkle then goes on to explain how when unconnected- we are “disoriented” and “alone.” She expresses her concern: when unconnected we feel out of the loop, or like she said, “alone.” I can relate; I definitely see how one could feel this way. Have you ever lost your phone and had to live a week or so with out it? It seriously turns you into a crazy person; I do not believe this to be a negative feeling though. In today’s society it is becoming the norm to be virtually connected at all times, and this is not going to change. We need to take it in stride and progress with new ideas and new social networks that will keep us grounded, yet connected.
I not only have reminiscent feelings of nostalgia with texting, but I also have nostalgia for early social networks.
One of the very first websites I spent a significant amount of time at was on TFLN also known as "texts from last night." Is it a coincidence that I both started texting and reading about people texting at the same time? I’m not sure. Some could argue that TFLN came much later than text messaging; I guess I was a late bloomer. For those of you who are not familiar with TFLN, it is a website based off of text submissions. People submit funny, gross, inappropriate and totally random text messages they have received or have sent out. For example:
I can remember spending hours on the website, laughing, sharing, re-texting the submitted texts to my friends etc. I was obsessed with the fact that you could submit a text, share it with others, and then re-text it to even more people. I would send out mass texts of the texts I was reading online… I loved it. This obsession sparked the social networking "panda" inside of me; after this I began looking harder into different websites, blogs etc. This is when I discovered lolcats.com(813): The last thing I remembered was laying in the bathtub fully clothed with the shower running while he was picking grilled cheese out of my hair. I couldn't figure out if i was more upset about being soaking wet or the fact that my grilled cheese was in my hair instead of my mouth. (TFLN)
Now it's hard to describe lolcats in words. It sounds very childish and immature, but if I had to give a definition of the website I would say it’s a portfolio of cat photographs with horribly phrased captions ("grammatically incorrect," if you will) that are completely hilarious. Only pictures do this site justice.
(Donotwant Lolcats)
So along with spending hours upon hours text messaging, I also spent hours on TFLN and then on lolcats: I texted my friends about texts from last night; I texted my friends about lolcats and forwarded pictures; I shared texts from last night on facebook; I shared my favorite lolcats photos on facebook; I emailed my friends both of these websites and also texted them the links to these websites, if I hadn’t discussed the sites with them before. 
As you can see, I get extremely nostalgic daydreaming about my beginning days of texting, and my favorite new social networking websites. For me, I linked them all together to ultimately create a super massive collaboration of Amanda’s likes. I liked texting, reading about texts, texting about cats and seeing pictures of cats. I got connected in a way that I will never forget: I started a relationship solely because of a text message, and I entertained myself by reading dirty texts and looking at ridiculous cats whenever I could. I daydream about that beginning technology and cyber-stage of my life.
Bring it on, Turkle.
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York: Basic Books, 2011. Print.
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