Never sitting

The pace of life has accelerated. We are (as my favourite Radio4 panel game ‘Just A Minute’ suggests) without hesitation, deviation or repetition. Actually scrub that last description, there’s a LOT of repetition. This is the rise of the information-centric social society, a shift into the various social settings that are rapid, tumultuous and defined by the networks we share with others. Best described by the immediacy and tracks of social information. An immediacy that is at once(!) shared, broadcast and public. Take as a form of social sorting, socialities are always ‘in flow’, circulating and never arrive at a fixed point of destination. Increasingly actions are moved through ‘inbox’, to trash, to archived folders; only then to be replicated, modified, forwarded and /or re-read in the free flow and movement of the dance of social steps. It is our task and concern to always be current a situating that is constantly re/addressed by the proximity to, and/or relevance of, others.

It is to be said that such observations are not unique to our ‘information-centric’ social state, but are a part of the natural cultural turn of society as we up the social tempo and seek to stratify our influence. Prominence is given to the significance of social actions in determining the to and the fro of activities. The reading of a Status Update can be passed as mere comment, but can also be ‘shared’, ‘posted’, ‘replied to’ and ‘bookmarked’ under the scrutiny of others. Hence the increase in the supply and re/sources of information represent not only a cultural effect, but has social significance where a failure to act is swiftly translated into a failure to be a part of things/the network/a friendship. Irksome and irritating ‘those’ individuals produce a constant disorder of the connection loops and compression of sociability that flits between the optimistic ‘here and now’ contact, all too easily overshadowed by the pessimistic missed, dismissed or ignored as a ‘neither here nor there’. The swiftness with which every factor must be grasped and determined represents the extreme departure of information, heard as an uproar of the specifics of social lives which we come to our attention in dazzling detail. Essential to the social situation is our willingness to be a part of (and take delight at) increasingly complex structures. Delight? Well how else could one explain Facebook’s popularity.

This structure remains open, not only in terms of what we reveal about ourselves to others, but describes the open-ended advancement of information as the context for our experiences. Should we take comfort in this new state, or feel forced into a state of constant anxiety where we must remain vigilant and be socially agile. Is this to keep up with what is going on?, or a messy measure to retain equilibrium and social order?

And when will I get time to pause, reflect and sit down again?...