Damn what happened to privacy? We are living in the era where there is no such thing as privacy because we open the door & expose our lives feeding lack of privacy everyday, while asking for our privacy.
I decided to start the new year by establishing a facebook page since everyone kept asking me if I had one. At first it was cool & exciting to connect with so many people that I had lost touch with, as well as those that I had kept touch with, all in one place to chat it up, catch up on life & make business moves.
O ‘Now Kicked off well!
A day before my birthday I caught the face book blues after I realized I had overdosed on facebook. I began to realize that everyone globally with a key stroke of separation had access to me & everyone who I associated with whether it was relevant to them or not. I realized that there were just as many local/global connections by way of keystroke that I did not want to make, as there were ones I wanted to make- a global fusion of lost privacy.
It’s ironic that the day before my birthday my last facebook interaction was with my19 year old cousin, as we unknowingly were in different states watching Campbell Brown on CNN. I became confused, irritated & baffled by the fact that there were countless people dying in wars all over the world, & a global economic crisis, yet a global news channel with trained journalists was spending a good amount of airtime “speculating ” on what other reasons could have caused the death of John Travolta’s son Jett, after it had already been declared a death by natural cause due to preexisting conditions that caused seizures.
I went on facebook & expressed my sentiments to see if I was alone in these thoughts, which in itself is still a little crazy & sometimes creepy to me, considering how large of an unknown audience is out there weighing in & attaching themselves to my thoughts. I had become addicted to the instant gratification of instant response & engagement while foregoing a sense of privacy. I sought instant interaction that I wanted to control knowing very well it was pretty much out of my control. This is the world we live in, “a new world order”, where the past & the present are trying to figure out where they fit in & coexist.
Case & point: my cousin by a stroke of her key connected with me to let me know that she had been watching the same program & would have been upset if CNN didn’t cover it because the story was tragic. My issue was not with the fact that an international news medium like CNN reported it, but the fact they spent a good amount of airtime on speculations on the cause of death with an expert who quoted her information from TMZ. This is what got me baffled & irritated with CNN.
I thought to myself, well as long as my cousin has been watching CNN, they have always had the Hollywood paparazzi style entertainment stories mixed with journalistic news. But then I thought, “damn, I sound like an old lady talking about the difference in generations”.
With another keystroke, she asked, “didn’t CNN always get their news from TMZ?”, confirming that I am from a different generation in its transition to coexist with the new world order!
I broke out in laughter. It had to be a joke. She had to be setting me up to sound like the older generation the day before I added another year to my life. Exactly what I had just stopped myself from doing. After all don’t they say 30 is the new 20, 40 is the new 30 ? We should relate, we are both watching CNN after all. The only difference is that I knew “Danny Zucco” when he would never be a lead story on CNN , while she had no idea who “Danny Zucco” was, as she googled the name & told me he’s that guy in Pulp Fiction, with no connection back to Jon Travolta, who she was so interested in hearing about his tragedy -she only knew him as the guy from Hairspray. She saw Travolta bust a move for the first time in Hairspray -while I fell in love with his moves when I snuck to watch Stayin Alive! My 19 year old cousin has always been used to CNN having the Paris Hilton’s of the world as head line news stories. I became very aware that we are of a totally different generation & here I am on facebook feeding into the fusions of all mediums without restrictions or boundaries, sharing experiences, thoughts, & global fusions, while quickly wanting to revert to the past & control the idea of privacy, in a world that allows you to connect with everyone without physical human touch!
As I set out to shut down from the cyber world & human contact, except for the massage therapist that was to work out my kinks, I got a message from a friend asking to join me for my birthday spa day.
My born day was a day I really wanted to spend alone reflecting & focused on self preservation, rejuvenation & preparation to put in the work toward the future I desired & deserved. This was after all, O’Now, The Chinese new year of the Ox”, my year! I decided that human contact was getting set aside way too much for the stroke of a keyboard & that was not the simplicity of life that I am looking for. I took my friend up on the offer for human companionship & proceeded to have the ultimate in mind , body & soul rejuvenation, beautifully & peacefully celebrating & acknowledging my life!
We spent what amounted to be about 6 hours at the spa catching up on our lives, what the future would hold, our fears, hopes and pursuits of love that brought us inspiration & excitement!
My facebook meltdown ended up bringing me clarity, purification & the balance of privacy within the new world order of technology, as I sat in a spa with everything from the lockers, showers & toilet seats all computerized to give you access, heat your booty, flush the toilet & many other features with a touch of a button & I was Loving IT! On the exact day that is to celebrate my life, I celebrated my life with the most magnificent healing simplicity of a day & evening, feeling free , ready & prepared to put in the work for what the future will bring! Right On Time!