Isolated Social Networks

Today a large group of people try to stay connected by subscribing to social network sites. They do this while they are alone. I am not a psychologist, but that does not seem to be connected. The more socializing that is done, the more isolated people become. I am an introvert who values his privacy, so I do not have a face book page. I have never visited face book nor have any desire to. I am fairly close to being asocial. Yet, even I worry that there is a generation that lives in an imploding egocentric universe, however unintended. I wonder if it is any coincident that Apple, the ultimate electronic marketing machine, starts all its product names with “i”? Do they recognize the shape of the future as being both egocentric and a small universe?

Re Apple as a marketing machine, I noticed on the news today all the folks who lined up today in order to get one of the limited supply of iPhone 4s. At least locally, unlike those who line up for tickets to sports events or concerts, this group were all ignoring one another.

Most will only be able to order one. Apple did not have enough available. Didn’t the same thing happen with the iPad? Is Apple just poor at planning? Or is there some rationale behind this?

The worms that follow Apple I am sure do not care. I swear if Jobs put a battery pack behind a pile of dung; an Apple logo on the front and dubbed it iPoop, there would be a line of folks queued up the night before to buy that as well. Would there be enough to go around?

Addendum: There is an old joke, likely last told by Henny Youngman, about a man, Harry, who picks his new suit up at the tailors. The fit is awful, but the tailor tells him to hold this sleeve, hunch his shoulder just so and stand slightly tilting to the left. After leaving the tailor with his new suit, Harry meets some friends and stops to chat. After Harry leaves, one friend turns to the other and says, "God, Harry looks awful, nice suit though." Today Apple announced in order to get proper reception with the new iPhone4 it is necessary to hold it just so. Nice suit though.