When MySpace first became a mainstream phenomenon, I didn't understand it or care enough to learn enough to understand it. I saw it as weird and impersonal; that degree of separation would surely taint any relationship established there, at the site. Why not just come over or talk on the phone? At least you're closer to actually engaging in interaction with those two choices.

However, almost as soon as started poking around on the site, I found myself fascinated with searching through other people's pages. I'd punch in random names and link-surf, looking for something that grabbed my eye. Along the way, I came across dozens of things i didn't like. Among the most prominent finds was a veritable CONTINENT of reasons for why I think a lot of people are kinda shallow...and as I went along, I remembered something that happened in the summer of 2005.

My friend Laura had a fight with her boyfriend and he kicked her out. When she told me she'd be back home in a few days, I allowed her to crash on the couch. She spent almost all of her time online, looking around on MySpace and other similar sites. And as the alleged "two days" became four and then five, I started getting irritated.

And one night after her arrival, while surfing on MySpace, she suddenly began to sob and repeated "OH GOD NO! NO!" over and over. I struggled to my feet, stumbled over and was like, "whaaat? what?" and she said,

"he removed me from his top friends list!"

I had no idea what she was talking about and tried to pay attention as she explained through her tears the whole Myspace thing. at the end, i said,

"so, you're upset because he bumped you out of his top ten friends list?"

And she nodded, sobbing hysterically. At the time, I was oblivious, disgusted, confused and curious. Now, I think about it and it seems to be to be the perfect analogy for the coming world. fortunately for everyone, they got back together shortly thereafter and she was replaced at the head of his "top friends list" but the whole thing now strikes me as such a singular statement of where we're headed.

The digital age is already in full swing (depending on who you talk to) but if I find myself on MySpace and looking at the pictures people have selected to represent themselves to the other inhabitants of the digital world, I tend to feel a wave of mixed wonder and disgust. Why do we do the things we do? Why is sex such a motivational tool that it directly affects nearly every single aspect of our social lives?

And occasionally, I think that maybe that term "the future" is just a term for a time we will never see; a place in time we can only hypothesize about.

Learn more about this author, John Lee.
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