Anti-Social Networking
09.18.09
She was enjoying a rare evening in on her own, as he had gone to the pub for a solitary session, to have a drink and a think. She settled onto the sofa with a glass of wine and a novel about a deadly virus, bio-engineered by an alien race who wished to take over the planet.
Halfway through the evening, a sudden recollection hit her – she had intended to let him know about something before he had left, and had forgotten. She picked up her phone with the intention of sending him a text message, but then decided against it – why break his beery reverie with a banal issue? Instead she sent him an email so he could read about it at his own convenience.
She was hit by small wave of nostalgia: only a few months ago, in a similar situation – he at the pub on his own, she at home alone – they would have been exchanging text messages throughout the evening. He would have been telling her about the man in the strange hat sat two tables across from him; about the group of students who hadn’t yet learned how to drink; about whatever castles in the sky the two of them had been building at the time. Now she couldn’t remember the last time she had received a text message that didn’t have a practical purpose. She jeered at herself for being upset about a matter that was pretty insignificant in the grand scale of things, but despite this she couldn’t suppress a yearningfor what had been lost.
He came home shortly after closing time.
“Good pub session?”
“Yes, didn’t you read my Twitter feed?”
She blinked. The yearning turned into realisation, and then sadness – the intimate text messaging had been replaced by bursts of 140 characters that the whole world could see. She also felt a little affronted at the assumption on his part that she must be hanging onto his every world wide web witticism.
“No, I’ve been reading.”
He sat down next to her on the sofa, mumbled briefly about the suspected conspiracy theorists that had been at the table next to his, and fell asleep.
To the tune of his gentle snoring, she got up from the sofa and sat in front of her PC. She logged onto Twitter and browsed to his account. With no hesitation, she chose to unfollow him. From now on, if he wanted her to know what was going on in his life, he would bloody well have to show her the courtesy of employing the personal touch and telling her himself.
He wouldn’t notice, of course, that he had one less follower than he had the previous day. She briefly toyed with the idea of a relevant Facebook status update, but dismissed it with a smile as ridiculous. Instead, maybe she would blog about it, and leave it in the hands of the gods as to whether he would pick up her new blog post in his RSS feeds.
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Tags: fridayflash, Writing
Love and communication in the age of technology. This was a great commentary, and an amusing read as well. Nicely done.
'kay….scared to check my email now. At least she can't steal the covers whilst online. At least not yet.
Aww, it's a nice Friday Flash debut 🙂 And made me wonder if I act like the boy in your piece 😛
Laurita – thanks 🙂
trev – hmbouahahahahaha 😉
Thanks Dana – I suspect we're all a little guilty of such behaviour!
Great story to show that technology will never replace touch and voice. I like the irony of her blogging about it at the end. Nicely written.
Oh I loved this story! Ah, technology…
I laughed when she unfollowed him.
Nicely done!
And isn't that the way of it now! Great piece and welcome to #fridayflash!
We do lose that intimate connection quite easily, don't we? More so now when two people sit in the same room with laptops. (Will have to remind myself not to IM husband when he's in the same room) lol. Great first story!
Yes, how time marches on. This was sad and funny at the same time, not to mention a good lesson.
Welcome to #fridayflash!
Unfortunately not really fiction but a true reflection of love and communication in the new media world we live in. Made me smile 🙂
There was a piece on the radio recently about how many people had been dumped by text. One girl topped the texts when she said she'd just been dumped by Facebook status update!
Ah, technology.
🙂
I betcha this happened somewhere in the world tonight. And last night. And tomorrow night…
Excellent story!
Unfollowing is the new revenge!
Thank you all for your comments 🙂
Looking forward to seeing JM Strother's full list sometime today/tommorrow!
…and a special thank you to whoever clicked on an ad – I have now earned a fraction of a penny, and am hence well on my way to my first million!
I enjoyed this very much. You're preaching to the choir here for me. I have (5) count them FIVE posts under twitter/techno resistance.
I like to sit and touch someone and look at their face while I explore their mind…..and wherever else that leads….hard to do when just using text….
fun piece. lovely read. Thanks for sharing.
Karen :0)
This is probably so true for way too many! A very good commentary for our #fridayflash, twittering accomplices that we can be! Welcome to our very social party.
Your clever title drew me in! I remember when being Blcok on someone's MSN account was one of the worst things in the world – now there are just so many more options, haha. Very nice piece 🙂
Hmmm. Makes me wonder what the divorce rate will do – up or down? (I like my alone time too much to be put off by their seperate togetherness.)
Nicely written – it read so true, not too many frills or fuss, just right for the story. Thank you and hope to see you again on #fridayflash!
Very good… when my wife and I worked different schedules we used text messaging facebook to keep in touch but I have to say it is better to be with her in person.
Hey, I resemble that remark! 😉
I loved this. What a great piece of social commentary. Nicely done.
~jon
Wry look at the impact of social messaging on relationships. The closing with her unfollowing him was very funny.
thank you so much for the comments!
It's inspiring me to continue with my offering for this #FridaFlash, even though it is giving me all sorts of trouble (grrrrr)